10/01/2014 Asia Business Report

lawful. Now on BBC News, all the latest

business news live from Singapore. Japan's Prime Minister looks set to

pledge billions of dollars of aid during his visit to Africa.

And cooking with gas - why feeding a family in India is becoming a tough

task. We start today with the Japanese

Prime Minister, who is visiting the African state of Ivory Coast as part

of a trip to the continent. His trip will be the first by a Japanese

Premier in eight years and is aimed at boosting his international

profile. -- boost to the country 's international profile. He is set to

visit Mozambique and Ethiopia. He will be accompanied by a delegation

of business executives from up to 29 companies. Japan is a major donor to

Africa and has pledged an estimated $14 billion in aid over the next

five years. It is expected to spend billions more in private investment.

I asked what exactly the prime minister is doing in Africa.

This is a sign that he would like Japan to take Africa much more

seriously and would like Japanese companies to look harder at Africa

for investment opportunities, and as a new market. In the past, Japan has

looked at Africa as a place where perhaps they were sold a lot of

second-hand Japanese cars and also gave a lot of aid, but it has not

been seen as a market for Japanese products. As we have seen with China

in the last few years, Africa is growing very fast. Many African

economies are growing extremely fast at the moment, and people are

starting to see Africa in a very different way. That is what the

Prime Minister is trying to push. Do not look at Africa as a place where

we just give money to help, but look at it as an opportunity.

Do you think part of the reason for the trip is to try to counter

China's growing influence? How successful do you think Japan would

be at that? Japan has been in Africa longer than

China. If you go to African countries, you will see the

ubiquitous Toyota Hilux everywhere you go. African countries are very

familiar with Japanese products, but it is China that has been making the

big inroads, particularly with consumer products. I do not think

they will be competing head-to-head. But another part of this, with the

rivalry with China, what the prime minister has been doing since he

came into power is trying to get Japanese companies to look

elsewhere, not just investing in China. Japan is very dependent on

China as its biggest export market, but he would like Japanese countries

to look elsewhere. Southeast Asia, India, Africa, South America, to try

to counterbalance the dependence on the Chinese market.

To India, where one of the nation's biggest expenses is subsidising fuel

for its people. In an attempt to offset the recent hike in fuel

prices, they are considering raising the quantity of gas they provide

every family. But it is an election year - are they trying to appease

citizens, and can they afford the exercise?

On course for delivery. This woman receiving her second gas

cylinder in less than one month. Feeding a family of eight people has

been a struggle for her over the last couple of years. Her son, the

sole breadwinner, does not earn enough to support a huge family. A

recent hike in cooking gas prices has made life even more difficult.

TRANSLATION: How can anyone afford such an expensive cooking gas

cylinder? I prepare the evening meal in the morning to avoid using extra

cooking gas. The recent hike in nonsubsidised

cooking gas prices has impacted many families across the country.

Over 33 million households still use cooking gas cylinders. Distributors

say that there is growing public anger against price hikes.

When there is a price increase, the customer issues that resentment at

the distributor level, because they cannot contact the oil industry. As

the first contact person, we have to face the wrath of the customer.

The government provides a subsidy for nine cooking gas cylinders

consumed by every household annually. With an election in the

offing, it wants to do more. That could come at a high price.

The government loses nearly $12 on every subsidised cooking gas

cylinder that is sold in the market like these. Despite that, there is

tremendous political pressure to increase the subsidy for cooking

gas. That could be a tough task, considering that the overall

finances of the government are not in good shape.

India's oil subsidy bill is already running higher than the government

had accounted for in this financial year.

This means any move to increase the cooking gas subsidy would further

squeeze the government exchequer. With the recent local state

elections, the ruling party suffered a heavy defeat.

With elections around the corner, the current leadership is desperate

to woo voters. But with the economy not in good

health, the government will find out that it simply does not have the

money to provide help to those suffering the hard cost of living.

China has released its latest trade numbers for December and the

official data says exports rose less than forecast from last year, while

imports were up by over 8%. Several car brands have posted

record sales. Luxury car demand has been growing in emerging markets

such as China and India as income levels rise.

Carmakers have also benefited from a recovery in the US, one of the

biggest markets for luxury cars. After America's crippling recession,

was largest economy seems to be recovering. The jobless rate in the

US fell to its lowest rate in five years. Later today, they will lease

the December jobs data, with markets around the world likely to react

well if the numbers continue to tell a positive story.

Despite the gains in the US labour market, the problem of the long-term

unemployed remains severe, which is a big ongoing challenge for

America's economy. This woman has been out of work for

nine months. She has exhausted her unemployment benefits, and has very

little left in the bank. I woke up one day and was not as

positive as I once was. I was wondering what was wrong with me

that I was not able to find a job. It starts to get you down on

yourself, to be honest. I had gone through fits of depression here and

there. It is hard, a struggle. I am not the type to not work. I need to

be a productive member of society, and be around people.

She does not have a job interview today, it is heading out to

personally drop off her resume at a company she knows has an opening.

Her way of setting herself apart from the competition. This career

coach has seen many people like her. America's job market is improving,

but prospects are tough longer you have been out of work.

Imagine what happens when you have been out for a few years, and you

are going out to the marketplace and are competing against individuals

who are freshly unemployed, given that the market is opening up, you

have people who are working and looking to make a change and you are

competing against them. There are more than 4 million

Americans that have been out of work six months or longer. The sheer

number of long-term unemployed is having a ripple effect on the US

economy, because of these workers are not earning to their full

potential. It is less money in their pockets

that they can spend on groceries, clothing, gas, bills, rent,

mortgages. These are people that are a drag on our economy as a whole. It

is this kind of spending that creates more employment in the first

place. Despite the months of searching, she

remains optimistic. Perhaps the next time she walks into this building,

she will do it as an employee. That jobs report is being eagerly

watched by many investors in Asia because they are fairly cautious, as

you can see. Some gains, but fairly mixed because of declines in Korea

and Australia. The China Dato was fairly mixed as

well, investors not knowing what to make of that, but -- the China Dato.