03/03/2014 Asia Business Report


03/03/2014

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

:00:00.:00:23.

Asian markets fall on worries about escalating tensions in Ukraine.

:00:24.:00:25.

China's currency, what do we think it could mean for the economy and

:00:26.:00:28.

the upcoming leaders meeting in Beijing? As you been hearing on our

:00:29.:00:38.

bulletins tensions escalating in Ukraine and Washington has

:00:39.:00:41.

threatened to isolate Russia economically after Vladimir Putin

:00:42.:00:44.

declared that had the right to invade Ukraine. That is weighing on

:00:45.:00:51.

Asian markets this morning. All of them are currently in the red.

:00:52.:01:08.

Fresh signs of a slowdown in China also a factor. Investors are also

:01:09.:01:21.

watching the Chinese currency, after it had its biggest one`day fall

:01:22.:01:26.

against the US dollar of nearly 1%. It is the biggest decline since 2005

:01:27.:01:31.

when China introduced its currency regime and moved away from a tight

:01:32.:01:35.

peg against the US dollar. The slide in the currency comes amid concern

:01:36.:01:42.

about the Chinese economy. The outlook should become clearer when

:01:43.:01:46.

the country 's parliament starts its annual meeting in Beijing later this

:01:47.:01:56.

week. There are speculations that over the next few months we could

:01:57.:01:59.

see a further loosening of the group that the Chinese central bank has

:02:00.:02:08.

over the exchange rate. Officials are also trying to send a signal

:02:09.:02:15.

here to the people who bring in hard money into the country, saying that

:02:16.:02:19.

enough is enough. We have too much liquidity. We are looking to the

:02:20.:02:29.

NPC, the big meeting that starts this week. What announcements are

:02:30.:02:37.

you expecting? We already had a big list in November but we need to see

:02:38.:02:43.

some details spelt out. Some of the areas of reform continue to be

:02:44.:02:48.

financial liberalisation, liberalising deposit interest rates

:02:49.:02:51.

would be a big one. Fiscal policy that is offering local government

:02:52.:02:58.

alternative funding avenues. Currently local governments are

:02:59.:03:03.

issuing debt and the idea is to give them additional revenue said that

:03:04.:03:06.

they do not have to rely on debt so much to fund the ongoing operations.

:03:07.:03:15.

Those would be two key areas. For more on the movements of the yuan,

:03:16.:03:23.

look at our website. Staying with China, official data showed a

:03:24.:03:30.

slowdown in factory activity. The index edged down from 50.5 in

:03:31.:03:40.

January. The official data is in contrast with that from HSBC, where

:03:41.:03:45.

the final readings came in at 48.5, signalling a contraction. We need to

:03:46.:03:50.

keep in mind the factories and businesses were shut for several

:03:51.:03:54.

days in early February due to the lunar New Year festivities. A

:03:55.:04:04.

Chinese carmaker has acquired a British company specialising in

:04:05.:04:10.

start`up car parts. Manufacturers are under pressure to ease traffic

:04:11.:04:13.

congestion and pollution. The government wants more hybrid and

:04:14.:04:18.

electrical vehicles on the road in coming years. In Japan, shares are

:04:19.:04:32.

trading higher from the operator uniqlo clothing stores. When you

:04:33.:04:40.

think of the movies you think of Hollywood, especially today as the

:04:41.:04:44.

annual Academy Awards ceremony is under way. Movie money is heading

:04:45.:04:52.

east towards Asia in Singapore is one country in the region that is

:04:53.:05:01.

investing heavily in movies. They may not be Oscar`nominated movies

:05:02.:05:04.

but the money behind Asian film is growing. Box office receipts in the

:05:05.:05:09.

region have been rising and with that an interest in locally produced

:05:10.:05:16.

films like Ghost Child. One of the firms behind this development is

:05:17.:05:22.

Infinite Studios. They have opened two new sound stages here. Its

:05:23.:05:28.

founder hopes the investment will pay off thanks in part to the fact

:05:29.:05:31.

that Singapore encourages movie firms to set up. There is a

:05:32.:05:37.

programme in Singapore which is very attractive so producers can take

:05:38.:05:43.

advantage of government offsets regarding spending in Singapore. The

:05:44.:05:47.

growth of the industry is important in the government subsidises that.

:05:48.:05:51.

There is a rising amount of talent flowing through Singapore from all

:05:52.:05:56.

parts of Asia. They are not the only ones. Lucasfilm are formed by George

:05:57.:06:05.

Lucas, set up one division in Singapore nearly a decade ago. That

:06:06.:06:12.

is behind movies like Pacific Rim. It has just opened a huge new

:06:13.:06:15.

facility in the city and will hire new people. Singapore 's economic

:06:16.:06:20.

development board is focused on this. Their job is to attract more

:06:21.:06:24.

investment and create jobs for locals. Their chairman says that

:06:25.:06:29.

they saw an opportunity to leverage off the growth of the entertainment

:06:30.:06:34.

industry. The media industry is very exciting. Its growth prospects are

:06:35.:06:40.

exciting and growth in this part of the world, countries like China,

:06:41.:06:46.

India, they are the fastest growing markets for digital media and

:06:47.:06:50.

content, including movies. It is a creative industry that appeals to

:06:51.:06:53.

our younger citizens. Singaporeans would find such career is very

:06:54.:07:05.

exciting. The Asia`Pacific box office growth was highest for all

:07:06.:07:13.

films in 2012. China led the list. These companies are trying to cater

:07:14.:07:16.

to a growth market. Last year Asia as a whole accounted for over 40% of

:07:17.:07:21.

the international box offers. Singapore is just one country in the

:07:22.:07:25.

region trying to tap into that magic. Globalisation has meant a big

:07:26.:07:35.

increase in people leaving their home country to work abroad. One

:07:36.:07:40.

factor in choosing a new location is the availability of schools offering

:07:41.:07:47.

a widely recognised curriculum. With the large expatriate population,

:07:48.:07:51.

Singapore has seen a surge in demand for such schools.

:07:52.:07:58.

Getting ready to lay the foundations of his future. Like most kids of his

:07:59.:08:07.

age, this boy 's life is dominated by education. In his case, Dave 's

:08:08.:08:12.

parents who are originally from India decided to opt for an

:08:13.:08:18.

international school. When we moved to Singapore a couple of years back

:08:19.:08:22.

we chose on its national school with the ID curriculum. We do not how we

:08:23.:08:28.

will be here so even if we move we know that we can still go to an

:08:29.:08:34.

international school with an ID curriculum anywhere in the world.

:08:35.:08:41.

There is a huge demand for international schools here. The

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school that Dave goes too, has more than a thousand students and it is

:08:46.:08:53.

just one of its three campuses. Over the past few years, Singapore has

:08:54.:08:57.

grown to become a key financial centre and a regional hub for many

:08:58.:09:01.

global firms. That is in a large number of expatriates come to live

:09:02.:09:05.

and work here, many of them with kids, driving up demand for

:09:06.:09:09.

international schools. According to the latest data, there is 31

:09:10.:09:16.

international schools here. There are 45,000 students enrolled in

:09:17.:09:21.

them. The sector also has an impact on the economy, with hundreds of

:09:22.:09:24.

millions of dollars of investments needed to set up such schools. Many

:09:25.:09:29.

more may still need to be built to cater for the growing demand. All of

:09:30.:09:38.

these schools are full. There is an equal number of expatriates coming

:09:39.:09:41.

in as there is leaving. Despite the government 's measures, we are

:09:42.:09:50.

likely to see eight or 9% growth in expatriates as well is resulting in

:09:51.:09:58.

education spaces for children. There will not be many seats empty in the

:09:59.:10:03.

school or others. As parents go all`out to ensure a better future

:10:04.:10:06.

for their kids, they are also helping to secure a good one for the

:10:07.:10:13.

schools and there are `` that their children are studying at. At the top

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of the show we showed you will of the markets that were falling. There

:10:20.:10:28.

are safe havens as a result of tensions in Ukraine. The Japanese

:10:29.:10:32.

yen, gold, and treasuries are rising.

:10:33.:10:39.

The top stories this hour. Russian troops have seized control of Crimea

:10:40.:10:50.

with fears that they could be deployed across eastern Ukraine.

:10:51.:10:52.

Ukraine's Prime Minister has accused Russia of declaring war and says

:10:53.:10:56.

that his country is on the brink of

:10:57.:10:57.

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