27/02/2014 Asia Business Report

given to more than 180 Irish Republican paramilitary fighters

showing there will not be prosecuted. Time for the latest

business news. Qantas announces 5000 job cuts in a

loss of more than $200 million. Australia's trade ministry gives the

BBC an update on the stalled transpacific partnership

negotiations. Welcome to the Asia Business Report.

We start off with Qantas and it announced that it is laying off 5000

employees as part of cost saving measures worth about $1.8 billion.

Alan Joyce says that the company is facing some of its toughest

conditions it has ever seen and has been competing with other airlines

with one hand tied behind its back. It announced a loss of some $211

million before it tax and plans to cut its fleet by more than 50

aircraft. With share is in the carrier at sliding, I spoke to an

analyst to see how things are for the airline. Things look pretty bad,

but what they are doing will set a platform going forward that should

make them more sustainable. 5000 job cuts is a big proportion for them to

be cutting. But from here on end they should be more efficient. So

you are saying that the worst is over? This could be the worst is

over. It is said that it is still tough for a lot of airlines. There

could be further cuts. In a couple of years they may start to grow

again. Could the problem also be on the leadership front? Could Alan

Joyce B replaced as a result of these results? That might be a

possibility in the long-term. The board has put their confidence in

Alan Joyce and feel that he is the right man to lead them at this time.

But if the losses keep on happening, questions will be asked. With these

losses, will this intensify the issue about increasing the foreign

ownership in Qantas? It certainly will. They have been pushing to have

the cap lifted to access overseas money. They will be pushing harder

and harder. Canberra is open to that idea. With all of these problems

that Qantas is facing right now, what will it mean for those who fly

Qantas? In terms of services we may see some reduction of services. They

are going to cut one route and there may be further along the way. In the

short term there will probably not be that many cheap airfares from

Qantas. In other business is making

headlines, Credit Suisse says it deeply regrets that some of its

bankers violated US tax laws on all but the bank's chief executive said

there was only scattered evidence of improper conduct. It is alleged it

helped US clients hide billions of dollars from US tax officials.

Japanese authorities have launched an investigation into MT GOX. A

Japanese government spokesperson said the police, the Finance

Ministry and others are gathering information on the case. Reports

have emerged that it has also been subpoenaed by US prosecutors. Thanks

in part to China, Portugal's government is banking on almost $619

billion of investment. That should FastTrack residency for

wealthy foreigners. The permits have gone to citizens of the mainland.

You can keep up-to-date with business news from this region and

around the world by logging onto the BBC website.

It is not just Qantas that has put Australia in the news. The country

is one of 12 nations trying to negotiate a transpacific partnership

trade deal. The latest round of talks ended in Singapore without an

agreement, Australia's trade minister says he is confident there

will be a deal by the end of the year. He gave his take on when

negotiations are heading. I feel that we are probably 80% of the way

they are on the decisions. Nothing was really done on market access.

That was until the rest of it was agreed to. There are some

significant issues. But a lot of the countries I have dealt with, I feel

that there is a willingness to go a long way. But with all the

willingness in the world, how close are Japan and the US to any sort of

compromise to market access? I do not know. I have got a sense of it.

The thing is that you put the 12 countries together, they are 40% of

the world's GDP. 70% of that 40% is made up of the US and Japan. They

are fundamental to how much space is created for everyone to do some

serious liberalising. Is your sense that they have made progress? They

have had some difficult moments, but I think that they are making

progress. Negotiations always end up like this. You end up with the hard

yards and everyone has to take a deep breath at some stage. We are

heading towards that. You are Australia's trade minister. But you

know better than most that what happens in one area of government

relations will impact on other areas. How much damage is

Australia's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats to Indonesia and

the issues of Manus Island, how much they doing to Australia's

gravitational? I am travelling the region and talking to ministers. No

one is raising the issue with me. Even in Indonesia, my counterpart, I

met with the trade Minister, he has just resigned to run for

presidency, I met with him five times. We have the live cattle trade

re-established. It has climbed back to its highest level ever. While a

lot of these comments are being made publicly, any trade sense, no

impact. In fact, an improvement. The relationships, not a problem. That

was Australia's trade minister. Businesses in Thailand have for some

time expressed concern that the political crisis will have an impact

on the bottomline. There is now evidence. Chinese automakers are

postponing plans to build a pond facility. -- plant. I would expect

so given that there is no sign of any breakthrough of political

deadlock. The immediate impact has been felt I hotels and retail

businesses in this area. And by the depression of domestic demand. There

has been a steady scaling down of predictions and forecasts for GDP.

The economy has depended heavily on foreign investment. People have been

watching carefully for signs of nerves by the big investors, the

Japanese investors in particular, as to whether they will look for

alternatives to Thailand. These bits of news should be worrying. It is an

ambitious bank. It has looked at Thailand for some years as a

potentially profitable market. Banking has been profitable. The

fact that they have postponed suggests they are nervous about

market conditions. The decision by the automaker, desperately looking

for markets outside China, South East Asia has potential. Thailand is

the natural base. They are postponing a $300 million investment

in a factory that would have produced 100,000 cars per year. That

had been very worrying. We have heard warnings from Toyota that they

were considering looking at alternatives for future investment

given the political uncertainty. Before we go, a quick look at the

markets. Share prices are currently mixed. Investors are hesitant to

make a big move before comments from the Federal reserve chairman.

You have been watching Asia Business Report. Thank you for investing your

time with us. Sport today is up next.

Before that, the menus. -- Main stories. The man who would become

the next Prime Minister of Ukraine is says that the country is dealing

with a political disaster. Two Islamist accused of murdering a

British soldier on the streets of London last year