Browse content similar to 27/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
their debit cards free time on Sunday. There were also problems | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
with cash machines. Japan has seen worse than expected | :00:00. | :00:19. | |
trade numbers in December, leaving the country with a record annual | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
trade deficit. A ban on beef, we find out more | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
about a Russian ban on beef products from Australia which comes into | :00:28. | :00:35. | |
effect today. Welcome to Asia Business Report. | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
We start today with Japan where worse than expected trade numbers | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
are out. The country is hitting a record trade deficit in 2014. | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
Exports rising less than expected from a year earlier and imports | :00:51. | :00:57. | |
surging 25% due to a week again and rising demand for fossil fuel | :00:58. | :01:08. | |
imports. To tell us more about the state of the country's economy we | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
are joined by Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Tokyo. I think there are two | :01:12. | :01:21. | |
things going on here. There is a struggle shift going on from Japan | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
being a creditor nation to being a debtor nation. That is part of a | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
long-term shift away from manufacturing, the hollowing out of | :01:32. | :01:32. | |
certain manufacturing sectors are being moved to China. Japan is | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
exporting less than it used to. There is also the factor of the yen | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
weakening dramatically last year. A very deliberate policy by the | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
government to boost exports. It has boosted exports by around 10% but | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
not by enough to make for the huge increase in costs particularly | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
energy. This is really tied to the shuttering of Japan's nuclear-power | :01:56. | :01:57. | |
plants after the Fukushima disaster. Japan is now the biggest importer of | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
natural gas, it is a huge importer of oil and coal as well. These costs | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
have gone up very dramatically in the last year because of the weaker | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
yen. What is the government aiming to do about the problem? We have | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
been having a mix, we have seen the Prime Minister trying to | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
aggressively to be led economy can help? They are hoping that this... | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
That there is a lag here. Energy costs are going up immediately | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
because of the fall in the value of the yen. Exports will take some time | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
to pick up. The hope is that this year, we will see a much more | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
dramatic pickup. The other thing there that they are obviously | :02:48. | :02:48. | |
talking about is a need to get power plants back on. And also to | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
diversify and innovate in Japan's energy sector. Liberalising the | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
energy sector, getting more renewable energy generated here in | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
Japan. Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Tokyo. | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
Staying with Japan, the country's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
continuing his visit to India today. Mr Abe was a guest of honour at the | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
Republic Day parade on Sunday and is joined by a large business | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
delegation from Japan. Japan also announced a loan of $2 billion for | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
the Delhi Metro. Mr Abe's visit marks the ongoing efforts to | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
strengthen economic and political ties between the two countries. Our | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
Delhi reporter explains what is bringing the two countries together. | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
India Republic Day celebrations are seen as a show of might, troops out | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
on display with the latest weapons. More than any kind of military | :03:45. | :03:46. | |
muscle, India needs strategic partners. Here, Japan feels like a | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
natural choice. Both countries have territorial | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
disputes with China and have agreed to boost security ties. India which | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
fought a war with China in the 1960s has been building its military | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
presence on its disputed border to counter a military buildup by China. | :04:08. | :04:18. | |
Recently, Indian and Japanese navy ships has conducted the first ever | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
joint exercises. Economic ties are also improving. Delhi has co-branded | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
economic pacts with Tokyo is the biggest trade agreement India has | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
entered into with any country. Japan's Suzuki Motors has its | :04:35. | :04:35. | |
largest unit in India and is currently the top carmaker. Many | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
feel the potential is much larger with India needing more than $1 | :04:42. | :04:42. | |
trillion of spending on infrastructure sector, Japan has | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
been a steady partner. Investing in various projects. The Delhi Metro | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
railway system is one example. The government of Japan has contributed | :04:55. | :04:54. | |
more than half the cost of the project so far. The Delhi Mumbai | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
industrial corridor, a $90 billion project which connects the cities | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
has been funded mainly by the Japanese government and industrial. | :05:04. | :05:17. | |
The World Bank has pledged $2 billion into developing a into | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
Myanmar for projects including energy supply and healthcare. | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
Myanmar has been closed off to much of the outside world for many years. | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
It is struggling to rebuild its economy. The bank seized lending to | :05:33. | :05:33. | |
Burma when they defaulted on payments years ago. | :05:34. | :05:41. | |
Samsung has reached an agreement with Google. The deal extends to | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
deals already owned by the technology giant. No financial | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
details were released. Over to Australia where a Russian | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
ban on beef products from Australia comes into effect today. Russia says | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
it has found traces of a growth stimulant in beef offal from | :06:11. | :06:10. | |
Australia. That is a stimulant prohibited in Russia. There is no | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
international consensus on the stimulant. The ban will affect | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
exports worth more than eight million dollars a year. Our | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
correspondent is in Sydney. I started by asking how worried | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
Australia's beef producers were. The producers are worried about they | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
don't know how long this ban will last for. Russian authorities say | :06:33. | :06:42. | |
that they found traces of trenbalone in shipments of Australian beef | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
byproducts at the end of last year. The ban comes into force today and | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
what we are hearing in Australia is that the Department of agriculture | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
here is working very closely with meat producers to try to impress | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
upon them the very strict guidelines that Russia does have in place. | :07:03. | :07:02. | |
Trenbalone is allowed to be imported into other countries but not Russia. | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
That is why Australian beef byproducts will be banned from | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
importation into Russia starting from today. What is the reaction be | :07:15. | :07:15. | |
like from cattle farmers, beef traders, Australia in general? You | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
have to remember that farming is incredibly important to the | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
Australian economy. Australia is the world's third-largest beef producer | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
after the United States and Brazil. This particular trade in full and | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
byproducts of beef is worth in excess of $8 million each year. | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
About 30 Australian firms are permitted to send beef products to | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
Russia so they are very nervous that this very lucrative trade has been | :07:42. | :07:50. | |
suspended. Russia has been trying to impress upon Australia that this is | :07:51. | :07:50. | |
a temporary ban on that when it is happy, all things being equal, the | :07:51. | :07:58. | |
trade should resume and of course Australia, the Australian | :07:59. | :07:58. | |
agricultural authorities are extremely keen to get this trade | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
reignited, given that as we mentioned for the overall importance | :08:04. | :08:04. | |
of agriculture to the Australian economy. | :08:05. | :08:19. | |
How do you feel about the money you invest? Which assets are you putting | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
your money into? These are questions that will be put to Asian investors | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
in a new survey. The Philippines has the most optimistic investors are | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
helped by the strong economic growth in the country. Investors in Hong | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Kong are the most negative especially toward shares and | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
property. Optimism has improved the most in Japan with recent gains in | :08:42. | :08:50. | |
the stock market. We have seen good economic numbers | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
coming out of Japan. The Hong Kong story is really very much around | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
property. There has been some concern that property prices are too | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
high. The results reflect that, the opinion of people. The Philippines | :09:10. | :09:17. | |
is a reflection of good GDP growth. Is it really a reflection of that | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
market? Generally the Philippines... We have seen an | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
influx in the last few months. It is also new to our survey. What is | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
striking is also you found that a lot of people are keeping their | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
money. They are hanging on to their cash. Why do you think that is? I | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
think it is a reflection on concerns around volatility and also they do | :09:50. | :09:58. | |
not know where to put their money. You are right, 40% on average of | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
investors around Asia hit their money in cash. That equates to about | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
21 months salary. A number of times more than most investors require to | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
cover their day emergencies. Let's take a look at those markets because | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
they are all in negative territory. In Asia, we saw the yen rising to | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
seven-week highs against the US dollar. That has taken a huge toll | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
Japanese markets you can see down 300 points. That is for this edition | :10:28. | :10:42. | |
of Asia Business Report. Thanks for watching. You're watching ABC news | :10:43. | :10:50. | |
and reminder of our top stories. The UN and to Syria says the government | :10:51. | :10:51. |