15/08/2014 World Business Report


15/08/2014

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Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest

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financial news with Alice, in World Business Report.

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The rising cost of Ebola: We assess the economic impact the deadly virus

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as it sweeps across swathes of Africa.

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And happy 100th birthday. We take a trip down the engineering wonder

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that is the Panama Canal. Welcome to World Business Report.

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I'm Alice Baxter. As the death toll from Ebola mounts

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across West Africa, the UN's health agency says the scale of the crisis

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is "vastly underestimated". Now concern is growing about what the

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cost will be of the deadly disease to the region's economies. Fear of

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the virus is having an impact on many of the affected countries,

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several local markets are empty and traders are prevented from moving

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around. So, just what is the economic picture on the ground? Our

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Africa Business Correspondent Lerato Mbele reports.

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Contagious and potentially deadly. Over the past few months, the Ebola

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virus has spread rapidly in West Africa. This latest outbreak is the

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world's deadliest to date. Health workers continue to treat the

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disease and authorities are trying to contain it. Some borders in the

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region have been closed and roadblocks have been used to

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restrict peoples movements in affected areas. Several airlines

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including British Airways have stopped flights to leap `` Liberia,

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Sierra Leone and Guinea, with fewer goods coming in. Prices of everyday

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essentials are rising. Public gatherings have been discouraged and

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often fear of infection is keeping customers away. Market traders in

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Liberia say it is hurting their livelihoods. Life is getting very

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difficult. Now some of us have to move around, right motorbike and do

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other activities. Now the government says everybody should stay home. How

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do you go and make your life? They say no markets. It is very bad and

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difficult. Some firms operating in the affected countries have chosen

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to evacuate their foreign staff. Others are continuing with business

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as best they can. Stella has `` Diamond has been undergoing

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exploration in Sierra Leone. It's not clear how this virus will

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spread. Can we continue operations as we are? There's a of uncertainty

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in business at the moment. I was there myself two weeks ago to see

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first`hand what we put into place. `` a lot of uncertainty. As a result

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we have been able to ramp up our efforts. There's no figure as to the

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economic cost yet but it takes livelihoods months to recover. Can

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you is on high alert. The government in Ghana has hinted at enforcing

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restrictions on public gatherings. `` Kenya is on.

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Hyundai Motor's South Korean workers have voted to strike for a third

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consecutive year after annual wage talks broke down. Rico Hizon in our

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Asia Business Hub in Singapore has been following the story. What more

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do you have on this story? Negotiations between management and

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the union have yet again hit a dead end. This is over wage and benefit

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issues. One, the union demands bonuses and other benefits to be

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integrated into the basic pay, which would result in raising the basic

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salary. But you and a's management won't give in. They made it clear

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that they won't accept the union's demand. `` hi your date's. It is

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under pressure to reach a deal with workers. General Motors are to new

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times last month, including a demand that fixed bonuses to be counted as

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basic salary. A Korean company has also struck a similar agreement in

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July. So much pressure at the moment on Hyundai. Labour strike would put

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a lot of pressure on the automaker, which is also struggling with the

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effects of the strong currency against the US dollar, eroding

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export profits. During the summer strikes last year, Hyundai along

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with Kia suffered a combined loss of 70,000 vehicles, worth hundreds of

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billions of dollars. Hyundai doesn't want that to happen again. Watch

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this space if the strike does push through and if it `` an agreement is

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reached at the 11th hour. Thank you. It was the engineering miracle of

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the age, but mired in scandal during its conception. The Panama Canal

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opened 100 years ago today. For decades, it was run by the US, but

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at the end of 1999 it was handed over to the Panamanians. More than a

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million ships have passed through the 80 kilometre canal, which today

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handles 5% of the world's maritime trade. But what does the next

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century hold for the waterway and the small Central American country

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that now runs it? When the Panama Canal was built it was considered a

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huge feat of engineering. What is perhaps more injured `` amazing is

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that little has changed. This is one of three gates. This is about 27

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metres high. It is absolutely massive. Originally these gates were

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operated by G is but are now operated by hydraulics. That's

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pretty much the only thing that's changed. `` by gears. The big

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difference now is that people here are in charge, the Panamanians. Eric

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is a maintenance engineer. He started as an apprentice 26 years

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ago and is proud of the way Panama has turned the strategic waterway

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into a more profitable business. People really doubted it but we

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really did it. The other people feel may be angry because they don't have

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the canal. But it's a tight squeeze. Of the bigger ships. Global trade

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has grown considerably in the past 100 years. The canal has now been

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expanded to allow supertankers to pass through. It has been plagued by

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delays and legal disputes. finished at the end of next year, it

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will more than double the capacity of ships passing through. It is a

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massive project. These gates will be put into the newly expanded canal.

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They've come all the way from Italy on a specially designed ship and

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they weigh 3000 tons each. Instead of removing the gates and

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maintaining them elsewhere, because they are so big people will be able

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to get inside them and they will be maintained on site. The hope is the

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extra income will filter down to more Panamanians. The country is one

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of the most unequal in the world. Around one third of people here live

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in poverty. We have a very modern economy but the political system

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isn't very modern or plural. We need to deepen our democracy in order to

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have more integral economic growth and social growth. The past century

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has brought wealth to this small country. Beyond the canal, financial

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services and property are booming industries. But the next 100 years

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are uncertain. Panama can't afford to be complacent.

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In other news, Australia's third largest bank, Australia and New

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Zealand Banking Group, ANZ, is on track to post its sixth year of

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record profits. ANZ saw nine month cash profit rose by 8% to about $5

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billion and said it was set to meet its full year financial forecasts.

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This comes after the lender cut costs, lowered bad debt and saw

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stronger growth in Asia. Shares in Warren Buffett's Berkshire

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Hathaway have surpassed $200,000 for the first time. That values the firm

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at an estimated $326 billion. The company's shares have long been the

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most expensive stock in the US. Mr Buffett has never split the

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company's class A shares, although there are cheaper class B shares

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that are priced at $134 per share. Asian shares got off to a lacklustre

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start on Friday, but were still on track for a winning week, while the

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euro remained close to nine`month lows after downbeat data.

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I will be back for a look at the papers shortly.

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We will review the international press in a

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