19/12/2016 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with Sally Budock and World Business

Panic-buying and looting in Venezuela, as the currency crisis

The President is now forced to backtrack on the withdrawal

And it survived two world wars and the onslaught of the big

supermarket chains, but could Brexit now mean the end

Also in the programme, we'll find out

how Japan and the European Union try to carve out a free-trade pact

Troops are patrolling cities where looting and protests erupted

over the government's plan to withdraw the country's largest

denomination bank note from circulation.

A partial curfew is in place in the southern city

of Ciudad Bolivar, which has been most affected by the disturbances.

President Nicolas Maduro says more than 300 people

He has now postponed the withdrawal of the 100 bolivar note

until January and, seeking to calm nerves, has said a first batch

of replacement notes had arrived and would be put into circulation.

Venezuela's economy has been struggling for a long time now.

By the end of this year it will be producing more than 20% less good

One of the driving factors is the reliance on oil.

The black stuff accounts for 96% of exports but even before the price

collapse of the last two years the economy was shrinking.

That along with the way the government has managed

the economy with price and currency controls mean

the International Monetary Fund is predicting inflation of nearly

And that's why the 100 bolivar note which was supposed to have been

withdrawn on Friday is worth less than two US cents.

It was the most common banknote accounting for almost 48%

With me is Jimena Blanco, Head of Latin America at global risk

It is always good to see you. It sounds like complete chaos. It

sounds like an idea that was not thought through at all when it

introduced this time last week. It shows a lack of planning on the part

of the government. The need to replace the 100 Bolivar note with

natural inflation was natural. We expected higher bills to be

introduced. What was poorly plans to -- planned was the way it was done.

The banks were running out of money and Nicolas Maduro knew as much.

They had only 2% of the 100 Bolivar notes in circulation and that would

have been enough to curry demand for three days. The new ones are not on

the scene, the 500 bolivar note which will be most likely used and

most widely used. Yes. Also, the 100 note will be replaced by coins.

Those are starting to be produced at the moment. The problem is, will

people have enough money? We are heading into the Christmas season, a

high demand season for currency. Many Venezuelan is do not have

access to a form of payment. What happens when people try to go to the

shops and want goods but have no money. I think you have the answer,

protest and riots. That is what I ask you about with the latest move

of Nicolas Maduro. How is he doing? He has been under pressure from his

party for some time but he is digging his heels in. He is highly

unpopular. Look at most polls. A vast number of Venezuelans want a

change and they blamed him for the horrible economic situation. There

is not really a clear constitutional way out of this. The opposition has

attempted to remove the president. Those attempts have not been

successful. And so I think we are in a situation where we will see

sporadic protesting, riots, looting, goods not being available in shops,

and the latest measure is really a recognition that social unrest was

about to spike quite severely over the weekend. OK. Jimena, thank you

for coming in. We appreciate your perspective and we will keep across

that. This week, finance leaders

from Japan and the EU want to reach It comes at an uncertain time

for international trade, as US President-Elect Donald Trump

speaks of protectionism and the UK's decision to split from

the European Union. Karishma Vaswani is in our

Asia Business Hub in Singapore. It is good to see you. This is an

interesting move, isn't it, on the part of Japan and the EU? Yes. Just

when you thought we were seeing the end of free trade deals and the

decline of globalisation, Japan is trying to fly the flag high. They

are meeting this week to hammer out a long-awaited trade deal

anticipated for a long time between the two sides. Japan is the EU's

second biggest trading partner outside of China. They make up more

than a third of the world's GDP. On Saturday, the EU said it was close

to a deal with Japan. That would possibly be by the early part of

next year. That is only if Japan opens up the EU farm could and they

allow Japanese cars in the EU unfettered access. They used stand

to gain a great deal from a trade agreement like this. Many have said

symbolically it would signal that free trade deals are not going out

of fashion despite statements from US President-Elect Donald Trump that

the US will pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and also

the vote by the UK to lead the EU. Both of these things have been seen

as anti-trade moves. OK, very interesting. We will keep an eye on

that. The corner shop has been

at the centre of our communities for more than 70 years

and despite the rise of supermarkets and a change in our shopping habits,

the corner shop market is expected to increase by 17% to ?44 billion

over the next five years. Babita Sharma, herself

the daughter of shopkeepers, investigates how the corner shop

has managed to survive. With every corner shop across

Britain, there is a story. And that story reflects the changing face and

fortunes of the country. 97 peak, love. Thank you. And don't worry

about the three p. Britain has often been called a nation of shopkeepers,

a nation built on entrepreneurial drive dating back to the 1940s. The

corner shop was the social centre of people. People talk about things.

They talked about interesting things. It was the social gathering

of the area. Look at BBC, it picked up all the news. The rise of

supermarkets threaten the future of the corner shop markets. But with a

new wave of migration came a new lifeline for the local shop. We were

born to do this. The principal for most Indians was now we are free of

the colonials, we are going to be our own masters. We are not going to

work for anyone else. It is a small emotional and political revolution

for an Indian mentality to kind of push that line through all the way

to becoming an entrepreneur and becoming your own boss. But life for

shopkeepers was not easy. They are under threat from supermarkets

nestling in on the High Streets with discounted products. They had no

choice but to diversify. You have Sainsbury is over there. I wanted to

close a few years ago and forget it. But they now seem to have the

winning formula. Luring customers with the spoke offerings like

home-made curries and home-grown vegetables. It has got everything. I

have never seen so many spices and vegetables. Yeah. Yeah. Basically if

you want to create anything exotic and exciting you would come here.

With Brexit now a reality the corner shop may face its guest yet threat

for survival. -- biggest. This unsung hero soldiers on anyway. It

certainly does. Good morning to my local shop. I know you are watching.

And now for the markets. A slightly stronger yen for the first time in

three days, though still extraordinarily weak. Growth in

China hampering trade in Asia today. That all from me now. Stay with us.

We will review the news and what they are discussing in just a

minute. The number of lives lost due

to suicide in England is unacceptable, according

to a group of MPs.