24/02/2014 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

To the 20 biggest economies that a new goal: Generated $2 trillion in

extra output over the next five years.

How Filipinos in Hong Kong are helping to boost local business.

Thanks for joining us for this edition.

The world 's most powerful financial leaders to boost global economic

growth by more than $2 trillion in five years. The group of the world

's 20 largest economies made a pledge over the weekend at a meeting

in Sydney, Australia. They need to generate an average increase of 2%

over and above the growth already predicted. The US Treasury Secretary

said it was a significant improvement. As we look across the

world, we see a global economic recovery, one in which activity

remains weak and global demand is still deficient. That's why the

decision in Sydney to focus on growth strategies is so

significant. These strategies will help address the near term

challenges of high unemployment, uneven economic growth and weak

domestic demand as well as the long-term difficulties which demand

structural reform. Efforts to structure the Chinese economy will

continue. He said that several issues needed to be dealt with. Tyre

TRANSLATION: We contributed to 50% of the global growth in 2009, 2010.

That is not sustainable. Now our contribution needs to be a little

lower in the future. If that is possible. We should gradually lower

the leveraged ratio and make sure that our money is spent on things

which we should spend money on. Meanwhile, we should make our

financing more disciplined. On one hand, we should they just bad debts.

On the other hand, we should cut local governments to borrowing

proper amount of money. Earlier, I spoke with the managing

director of the World Bank. I asked him how the G20 group had come up

with $2 trillion figure. Tyre the first element is that the growth is

the new name of the game. We are supporting the objective. The

precise figure is based on an analysis provider jointly by the

World Bank, the OECD and the IMF, but this is not the most important

thing. The most important is growth. That is the name of the game. It

needs to benefit everybody. It improves equality. Where will this

money be coming from? To drive this growth? Many countries around the

world have bulging Budget deficits. It isn't just about the Budget and

taxpayers' money. It is about making the economy work better. It is about

private money and investment and opportunities. Structural reform. In

certain countries, it will be a labour market and in others, tax

reform. In sum, property market. It is not just about money but

reforming the economy and reforming it correctly and working for the

quality of that growth. Is the political will that reform? To

change all of this? It has or has been a problem over the past

decades. Noes structural reforms has been part of the economy for 3000

years. The good news is that it is easier when everybody agrees that

structural reform should be coming together. It is not just singling

out one country or another. Everybody faces structural reform

issues whether it is a Europe or Asia. If we do it jointly, we can do

it better. We can just act correctly. It seemed a great

message. He mentioned Asia. Asia has been a key growth centre

over the past decades. -- you mentioned Asia. How much will Asia

contribute, in review, contribute to this growth. It means it has been a

great engine for many years and it will continue to be one. 40% of

global growth origin 18 Asia, specifically. In other news: In an

effort to reach a deal on the US debt retreads own, the trade --

transpacific partnership continued in Singapore today. They arrived on

Saturday and will meet until tomorrow. They missed the deadline

last year to close the deal but they say that they are more hopeful of

getting one done in 2014. It includes 12 countries from around

the Pacific Rim. It notably excludes China.

Looking to upgrade their facilities to attract..., but in China, some

hotels are looking to downgrade to retain business. This is because

Chinese government officials are banned from using luxury hotels in

an effort to curb spending. I spoke to one expert who explains that the

austerity drive has meant the following for the hotel sector. What

has happened here is that since November, 2012, there has been a

pulling back of government employees spending money in international

5-star hotels or in 5-star hotels in general in China. That means that

international operators had taken a short-term reduction in their

day-to-day business in bars and restaurant in hotels. As

international hotel operators, what we all do is look for other business

to replace that business. There are many other types of segments of

business in the hotel industry which use hotels that are not government

officials. There is international operators who bring people into

China. Tourists and business travellers and those are the people

who tend to stay in internationally ranted hotels. Is a strategy now to

attract more mainland and foreign tourists rather than government

business? It is government, business travellers, and one of the things

which are happening across Asia and China leads the way on this is the

emergence of domestic travel. If you look at the statistics which we have

been compiling since the mid- 70s as a percentage of -- GDP, China spent

20% on building infrastructure. In 2009, they are spending 45% on

building infrastructure. When you build roads and ports and airports

and rail a high-speed rail, that enables people to travel and when

people travel, they use hotels. That 435,000 additional people coming

into China the moment is all on the back of this massive infrastructure

spending which has been happening in China in the last 20 years or so.

That causes people to be able to travel who were not able to travel

before. When people travel, they need hotels. From an international

hotel operator's point of view, we bring in tourists and business

travellers outside of China but also we now cater to the Chinese

travellers travelling within the country.

Moving on to other stories. When people leave home and live overseas

for work, it is often a financial decision but they do not benefit

alone. Industries are emerging to serve foreign workers. In Hong

Kong, thousands of women from the Philippines are employed and their

income has spurred demand for companies to help them. They send

their earnings home. We report on the expat economy.

Relaxing and catching up with friends on the weekend. Filipinos

hundreds of miles from home who have come to Hong Kong to work. You may

be forgiven for thinking that we are no longer in China. You won't hear

much Cantonese or Mandarin being spoken in this part of town, not

today when the Filipino domestic workers of Hong Kong are here,

enjoying their day. To cater to their needs, dozens of businesses

have popped up in the shopping more. -- shopping centre. This

domestic helper has worked in Hong Kong for almost 20 years. And worked

here for my family. -- Heidi worked here for my family and my children.

This is so that they have a good life. INAUDIBLE.

She sends home about $400, half her salary, every month. These are

vitally important financial icon for people all over Asia. Globally,

India is the largest recipient of with $71 billion received, followed

by China with more than $60 billion and the Philippines with about $26

billion. This man works for one of the many companies offering

remittance services. It is part of the bank and charges $2 50 per

transaction. He says that competition is getting fierce. Year

after year, the banks are moving in. You can see all over that this is

going along. To stay ahead, they offer different

discounts in an effort to attract customers.

Other companies are going further. They either organised singing

competitions to their brand... These women came to Hong Kong to support

their families. Their presence is generating a whole industry in their

host city. Thank you so much for investing your

time with us. Next it is Sport Today.

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