:00:00. > :00:00.restrict bonuses to a maximum of two years salary. Now time for all the
:00:00. > :00:15.latest business news, live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:23.Skyhigh property prices. We look at where the cooling measures in Hong
:00:24. > :00:36.Kong are working. And by business leaders in Asia favour of the
:00:37. > :00:42.mainland of other major choices. Property prices in Hong Kong have
:00:43. > :00:46.skyrocketed since 2009 as Asia was spared the worst of the global
:00:47. > :00:55.financial crisis and Chinese buyers have come in. But is Hong Kong in
:00:56. > :01:02.danger of another property collapse? The most expensive properties in the
:01:03. > :01:09.world are found here. A household for a record 70,000 US dollars per
:01:10. > :01:13.square foot. It is the most expensive property in all of Hong
:01:14. > :01:19.Kong. And overall prices hit a new high last spring. No capital gains
:01:20. > :01:26.tax and Chinese money mean that Hong Kong is an attractive place to
:01:27. > :01:29.invest. To deter speculation foreigners have to pay a tax equal
:01:30. > :01:36.to a quarter of the transaction price. It has become so high that it
:01:37. > :01:45.has made Hong Kong a less attractive place to speculate. Also, the Fed is
:01:46. > :01:51.trimming its cash injections, which heralds I global interest rates and
:01:52. > :01:57.mortgage costs. -- higher. It is hard not to wonder, is a bubble?
:01:58. > :02:06.House prices are estimated to be overvalued by 40%. When the last
:02:07. > :02:10.bubble burst in 1997 during the Asian financial crisis, house prices
:02:11. > :02:23.fell by 60% and continued to decline by 60 -- for 60 years. But the party
:02:24. > :02:33.developers say it is different this time. The interest rate was in
:02:34. > :02:42.excess of 10%. Now it is only 3%. The buyers or owners will find it
:02:43. > :02:48.affordable. House prices are 13 times the average salary. Higher
:02:49. > :03:00.than during the last bubble. I work in health. We spend about 60% of
:03:01. > :03:12.salary to pay for the mortgage. Even if I spend nothing I have had to
:03:13. > :03:16.save for the deposit. Adding further pressure, public housing is
:03:17. > :03:22.inadequate. It covers only 30% of the population. This woman and her
:03:23. > :03:29.family live in a 400 square feet flat. The size of the studio.
:03:30. > :03:34.TRANSLATION: The rent is the be high. It is our biggest expenditure.
:03:35. > :03:39.It takes up half of our monthly income and we do not make much
:03:40. > :03:44.money. She is still one of the lucky ones. Illegal sites have sprung up
:03:45. > :03:54.to cope with the unaffordable and inadequate housing. This is the dark
:03:55. > :04:03.side of being a property hotspot. Some other Asia business this --.
:04:04. > :04:08.Air New Zealand will be allowed to fly the Auckland to Singapore route.
:04:09. > :04:14.In return, Singapore airlines will be able to operate in New Zealand.
:04:15. > :04:24.And in regular Tory approvals, flat could start as early as December. --
:04:25. > :04:31.pending a regular Tory. JCPenney will close 33 jobs and cut
:04:32. > :04:36.2000 as part of its turnaround. The store closures will generate cost
:04:37. > :04:38.savings of $65 million per year. The struggling department store chain
:04:39. > :04:42.operates more than 1000 stores across America.
:04:43. > :04:45.The International monetary fund expects global growth to pick up
:04:46. > :04:52.this year, echoing the view from the World Bank. But the head of the IMF
:04:53. > :04:58.also had a warning. We have to watch out for deflation.
:04:59. > :05:04.With inflation running leap in the central bank targets in most
:05:05. > :05:10.corners. We are seeing rising risk of deflation. That could prove
:05:11. > :05:18.disastrous for the recovery. If inflation is the Genie, deflation is
:05:19. > :05:24.the over. Business leaders in Asia are feeling
:05:25. > :05:29.rather optimistic about prospects for this year compared to 2013. That
:05:30. > :05:37.is according to a survey by an economic research group. They say of
:05:38. > :05:40.the 500 companies interviewed, 46% say their expectations have
:05:41. > :05:44.improved. The Asia-Pacific is delivering better profit margins,
:05:45. > :05:53.especially in South East Asia. The investment of parity is China. It
:05:54. > :06:02.has overtaken India. I cast more about these findings. If you look at
:06:03. > :06:06.2013, it was a turbulent year. In China we had concerns about debt and
:06:07. > :06:13.government attempts to transfer the debt built up. The other main global
:06:14. > :06:23.engine, America, is skipping back on quantitative easing. Economic
:06:24. > :06:31.performance suffered. Last year was tough. 2014 is looking much better.
:06:32. > :06:36.The rich parts of the world for the first time in a long time have a
:06:37. > :06:43.synchronised recovery. Japan, Europe and North America are all growing.
:06:44. > :06:53.The concerns of the past few years are receding. Let us break it down.
:06:54. > :06:59.Indonesia has come up as the second port for investment after China.
:07:00. > :07:04.What is driving the settlement sentiment? Multinationals are
:07:05. > :07:12.investing in Asia. China has always been the number one market. Behind
:07:13. > :07:18.China traditionally is India. That is because of the population. It had
:07:19. > :07:25.quite good at rates. But this year, Indonesia has leapfrogged into
:07:26. > :07:32.second place. A lot of companies are betting on China. The second that is
:07:33. > :07:35.not India, but Indonesia. Indonesia is not doing things right, but it is
:07:36. > :07:41.doing less things wrong. What is India doing wrong? There has been a
:07:42. > :07:50.lot of policy and political mismanagement of the economy. Growth
:07:51. > :07:53.rates have fallen. They have been mismanaging the economy and the
:07:54. > :08:01.investment climate of things like foreign direct investment
:08:02. > :08:06.restrictions. It has businesses being fed up that India has got its
:08:07. > :08:13.act ghetto. Indonesia is not a paragon of excellence when it comes
:08:14. > :08:17.to creating an investment landscape. Let us take you to Malaysia, where
:08:18. > :08:21.the Prime Minister has come under criticism on social media for his
:08:22. > :08:26.comments on the price of water spinach. He said it is not fair for
:08:27. > :08:31.the government to be blamed for rising prices. We have more from the
:08:32. > :08:38.capital. It is a popular vegetable, commonly
:08:39. > :08:45.known as morning glory and water spinach. It is delicious in
:08:46. > :08:49.stirfried with chilli or garlic. The price has recently gone down by
:08:50. > :08:54.50%. That has the Prime Minister thinking, how come he is not getting
:08:55. > :08:59.pressed for it? If he sounds like he is desperate for a compliment, there
:09:00. > :09:02.is good reason. Since he cut down on subsidies, his popularity has
:09:03. > :09:08.dropped in the polls. Despite the fact he has given out cash handouts
:09:09. > :09:14.and announced stores are selling items for below market price. A lot
:09:15. > :09:17.of Malaysians say there would not need to go through cuts if the
:09:18. > :09:24.government was able to manage money properly and not let it leak through
:09:25. > :09:29.corruption and waste. There is a difficulty of getting a sense of the
:09:30. > :09:34.market. Those who do not appreciate the price hikes to not want to come
:09:35. > :09:37.on camera. This man tells me Malaysians should be thankful and
:09:38. > :09:41.not blame the government for everything. He says people need to
:09:42. > :09:46.learn to save. A lot of the criticism the Prime Minister has
:09:47. > :09:50.come online with interesting photographs. If you are worried
:09:51. > :10:00.about the cost of living rising, this T-shirt might have some wisdom.
:10:01. > :10:05.This vegetable is popular. It is definitely not a staple. Malaysians
:10:06. > :10:08.feel the Prime Minister is disconnected to everyday lives. Even
:10:09. > :10:13.at this night market although a lot of the products have kept their
:10:14. > :10:17.prices there are signs that the price problems are to come. This
:10:18. > :10:25.chilli has increased by 30% overnight. Prices may have come
:10:26. > :10:27.down, but this latest comment shows that the Prime Minister could be
:10:28. > :10:28.disconnected and is clueless about the hardships of Malaysians.
:10:29. > :10:31.Goodbye.