23/05/2014 World Business Report

checkpoint. Those are the headlines. Now it is

time to get the latest financial news. Russia's Davos put on eight

brave face, but many top bosses have stayed away. Plus, under cyber

attack and under the spotlight. EBay faces probe is in regards to its

security practices. Welcome to the programme. We will

take a fascinating and exciting snapshot of everything in the world

of business and money. It is time to wake up. We are going to talk about

Thailand's economy and Kennett shrug off the political turmoil. Let us

start with this. Let us start with this man right here. Russia's

President Putin will shortly be addressing global business leaders

at the Saint Petersburg International economic Forum. It is

Russia's version of Davos. It is supposed to promote the country to

foreign investors. But with tensions over Ukraine and the resulting

sanctions against Moscow, around 30 of the world's top losses have not

shown up. It has been rather awkward for Russia, but the real worry is

the exodus of money from the country. Let us take a look at some

of these numbers. The Russian Foreign Ministry believes investors

have pulled out $51 billion in the first three months. Earlier this

month the European Central bank had warned that the figure could be as

much as $220 billion. It has taken its toll on the currency. Moscow has

been desperately trying to prop up its currency. We are in Saint

Petersburg for the forum and have this report.

America asked some business chiefs to stay and some did, but others

said they need to be head to understand the risks. A lot of

companies did not send their CEOs. But everybody is present. That is

the kind of political statement, not to send the most important people.

Nobody doubts Russia is heading into recession, but not everybody was

gloomy. It is not the worst economy that is sure. Hopefully by seeing

more of small and medium business is growing. For seasoned advisers, one

worries about capital flight. Most of the capital is local capital

fleeing. There are members of the American chamber that have large

investment plans are continuing with them. It is not one way or the

other. Until now, the clear message from these forums is that Russia is

open to global business. For delegates it is not a boycott or

even sanctions. It is about how safe all the billions of dollars they

have invested in this economy is. They will be scanning every word the

President has to say today very carefully.

Let us talk more about this. In particular, the economic impact of

the crisis on the European region. Great to have you with us. Let us

start with that, the region and the impact. Germany, it has got the

biggest stake to lose. We have seen in the trade figures, the biggest

amount of exports in the year. Exports actually contracted from

growth in the first quarter. We can link that to the crisis? Definitely.

It is based on two fronts. The slowing down of China and what is

going on in Russia. They have massive treatments to Russia through

imports and exports. It is hitting businesses. Talking about this man.

I am always curious to know, how much is he prepared to give up,

prepared to lose in terms of economic numbers, in terms of

economic growth, to continue on the path he is walking? Russia was

heading to eat recession anyway. It almost gives them a valid excuse on

the election policy. This is the reason why Russia is in recession.

But it was there before. It does not give him a valid excuse to justify a

recession that was already happening. But he is looking more

towards China. It is a long`term view. But hopefully there is more

opportunity. We will see the effect is hitting Europe, particularly

Germany. The biggest question, what does Germany do? If Russia's focus

is to look east, not forget that Europe, but concentrate on the east,

and its make up for the amount of money, possibly $220 billion so far

taken out, can that be made up? It is about people pulling that money.

We have seen that the impact. I think in some way it is just capital

flight. It is speculative. I can see the money going back. We had a

massive riot in Britain. It could soon be a good time to buy in

Russia. We are not going to see any more strong sanctions in Russia. We

have seen a lot of resistance on the ground in Europe. Some of the big

German companies have said, we do not want these. It is a double`edged

sword. It is going to be interesting to watch. We appreciate your time at

this hour. Let us turn our attention to eBay. I am sure you know about

eBay advising its users to change their passwords after revealing

hackers had broken into its personal database. The York's attorney

general is demanding the company provide free help to those

struggling with identity theft. It has been pursued not just by

regulators in New York, but also by three attorney generals from three

different states. I have talking about Connecticut, Florida and

Illinois. Have all announced investigations into eBay and what

happened at the company. Specifically, they are focusing on

eBay's measures for securing personal data, the circumstances

that led to this breach and how many users were affected. We have heard

all sorts of complaints about the security breach, not from the

company itself, but from the media. They are still waiting and that is

part of the issue. Where I am, the New York attorney general has said

that he would like the company to provide free credit monitoring for

its customers. The attack is also being investigated by the FBI and by

cyber forensics. Back to the top story. The seizure of power in

Thailand by the army in that military coup yesterday. Since

martial law was declared, foreign investors have pulled some $400

million out of the Thai stock market. How is the business world

reacting? Linda, you know I was talking about this as the route at

`` story. The irony is, we would not often say that a coup would be good

news for the economy. It often gets rid of the political stalemate and

the possible to think of islands on the streets. Thailand is the

unusual. Typically speaking, when you mention martial law, the market

reacts really badly. Instability. Thailand is unusual in the sense

that this is the 12 coup since the 1930s when the monarchy was

abolished as a ruling power. Markets are somewhat used to it. The

military has a legal right to intervene. You do see that reaction

in terms of the markets feeling stable. The currency is up against

the US dollar today. The benchmark index is still slightly down.

Foreign investors have pulled their money out of Thai stocks.

Significantly around the region, stock markets in Asia are up and up

at the highest level since early January for the Feds started

tapering. `` before. Nothing is quite as we would expect in terms of

market reaction. Still a lot to wait for when the Thai government

announces. We will talk to you soon.

I will be back shortly to take a look at some of the headlines. Hello

again. The US coastguard has