:00:00. > :00:17.Dowler's phone had been hacked. Time for Asia Business Report.
:00:18. > :00:26.7.5% growth, that is what China is aiming for this year at its annual
:00:27. > :00:31.leaders' meeting. Australia sends emergency relief to farmers hard-hit
:00:32. > :00:37.by a drought in eastern part the country.
:00:38. > :00:41.Welcome to Asia Business Report, by Rico Hizon in Singapore. We kick off
:00:42. > :00:49.in China, and its Parliament has become its annual meeting in
:00:50. > :00:55.Beijing. In its opening speech, the Premier said they were hoping for an
:00:56. > :00:58.expansion this year. We go to Beijing now, where we go to Beijing
:00:59. > :01:05.now, where we're standing by outside the great hall of the people. What
:01:06. > :01:09.is the latest? The delegates here at the opening of the national People's
:01:10. > :01:15.Congress have been listening to a speech by the Chinese Premier. This
:01:16. > :01:20.is widely viewed as a rubberstamp parliament, but it does, in terms of
:01:21. > :01:24.what is being discussed here, give a sense of at least the broad
:01:25. > :01:29.direction of travel of Chinese reforms. In the speech, I think
:01:30. > :01:34.there will be a lot for inspectors and finance ministers across the
:01:35. > :01:39.region to be very pleased about. They talked about the need to tackle
:01:40. > :01:43.local government debt, which is something that has caused a lot of
:01:44. > :01:45.concern over the past year or so. He talked about continuing to
:01:46. > :01:50.liberalise interest rates, continuing banking reform, and
:01:51. > :01:54.further injections of private capital and privatisation in
:01:55. > :01:58.state-owned industries. Also, the important headline figure of the
:01:59. > :02:03.7.5% growth rate for this year. There will be a sense from some
:02:04. > :02:05.people, given the fact that there is this consensus that China needs to
:02:06. > :02:11.undergo these painful structural reforms, but the fact that that
:02:12. > :02:15.growth rate has been kept at 7.5%, but there hasn't been any lowering
:02:16. > :02:21.of the growth rate, will lead some to question how serious it really is
:02:22. > :02:25.about embracing the pain that those reforms are going to require, and
:02:26. > :02:30.when it is that China will accept that the growth rate needs to come
:02:31. > :02:35.down. Pollution is also the top of the agenda. Reforms, particularly
:02:36. > :02:40.energy pricing, to boost non- fossil fuel power, any idea when we will be
:02:41. > :02:49.getting more details on the implementation? No, we don't have
:02:50. > :02:54.any further details. Some of those measures we have heard outlined give
:02:55. > :03:00.us a little bit more of a sense of what China wants to do this year to
:03:01. > :03:07.tackle pollution. This is a grave and growing area of public concern.
:03:08. > :03:13.It will be interesting, I think, although we have seen some of the
:03:14. > :03:19.usual turgid Communist Party speakers, the Premier speaking about
:03:20. > :03:24.the Communist drive, there has also been a heavy dose of reality in the
:03:25. > :03:28.face of the continuing economic difficulties that the local economy
:03:29. > :03:32.faces. He said that the global economy is undergoing profound
:03:33. > :03:37.adjustment, and competition is getting fiercer. " we are at a
:03:38. > :03:55.critical juncture in were our path upwards is particularly steep. " .
:03:56. > :03:58.Thank you so much for the update. For more on China's growth target
:03:59. > :04:05.and other top business news from around the world, please visit the
:04:06. > :04:10.website. In Australia, the economy grew 2.8% in the final quarter of
:04:11. > :04:15.last year. That is compared to the same period in 2012. That is better
:04:16. > :04:23.than the 2.5% many had been forecasting. The GDP data came after
:04:24. > :04:27.the reserve bank decided to keep its interest rates at a record low for
:04:28. > :04:35.the seventh straight month. The governor of the bank said that
:04:36. > :04:40.growth had mainly been driven by the mining industry, and an insatiable
:04:41. > :04:50.demand for Austrade's national resources from China. -- Australia.
:04:51. > :04:57.Two things that stand up and net exports, contributing quite
:04:58. > :04:59.generously to the growth. And, the RBA mentioned yesterday that they
:05:00. > :05:06.are expecting growth to continue, and they came fourth with numbers
:05:07. > :05:11.that reflected that. Can it be sustained this quarter? I think that
:05:12. > :05:16.is quite an important question. One of the important questions is how
:05:17. > :05:24.much increase can be expected in imports? On the whole, I think there
:05:25. > :05:39.will be enough and net exports and consumption to offset a mining
:05:40. > :05:49.sector slowdown. I think the RBA is expecting... They expected it to
:05:50. > :05:53.slow down further this year. This is a bit of a trade-off, and I think
:05:54. > :06:00.growth could come under a bit of a pressure in the coming quarters. The
:06:01. > :06:03.RBA wants to rebalance away from too much mining revenue. They have also
:06:04. > :06:08.stated that they will be moving away from a reliance on investment in
:06:09. > :06:11.infrastructure construction. A decline in investment from the
:06:12. > :06:18.Australian government, and also a decline from the Chinese, which has
:06:19. > :06:21.been a main buyer of Australian resources. I think if you delve into
:06:22. > :06:25.the details, you will find that it is not an imminent risk at this
:06:26. > :06:28.time, because China will still need to offset with some targeted
:06:29. > :06:33.infrastructure spending, particularly with upgrading. That is
:06:34. > :06:37.in line with bringing pollution lower. For the moment, I think the
:06:38. > :06:44.mining sector in Australia need not be unduly worried yet. Emergency
:06:45. > :06:50.relief is on its way to drought ridden farmers in eastern Australia.
:06:51. > :06:53.Many people are forced to sell or slaughter cattle. There is a
:06:54. > :07:00.mounting psychological cost of communities, where once fertile land
:07:01. > :07:03.has turned to dust. This contains scenes that some viewers may find
:07:04. > :07:12.upsetting, from Tamworth in New South Wales.
:07:13. > :07:15.They pray for rain in these parts, it is traditionally some of
:07:16. > :07:20.straight's best farming country, but much of the land is barren. The
:07:21. > :07:26.drought, 400 kilometres north of Sydney, is the worst in living
:07:27. > :07:31.memory. Many waterholes are dry, crops have failed, and livestock
:07:32. > :07:37.sold off to make ends meet. For many farmers, life is a struggle. When
:07:38. > :07:42.times were good, how much water would be in this reservoir? In
:07:43. > :07:50.normal times, this would be three quarters full to fall. -- full.
:07:51. > :07:55.People become very depressed, and as we know, some people take it that
:07:56. > :08:00.next step, the final step, which is very sad. It has been more than a
:08:01. > :08:06.year since this corner of eastern Australia had rainfall. The ground
:08:07. > :08:09.is turning to dust. Once upon a time, this dam would be full of
:08:10. > :08:12.water. As debt and depression mount, there is still hope that the
:08:13. > :08:20.drought will be shortly that, but for some on the land, they wonder
:08:21. > :08:24.how long they can survive. To keep their land viable, many farmers are
:08:25. > :08:29.being forced to sell their prize cattle. In the New South Wales city
:08:30. > :08:35.of Armadale, the saleyards has been awash with livestock. Very
:08:36. > :08:40.depressed. There has been no restocking interest, and if the
:08:41. > :08:47.cattle are not good enough to go to an abattoir or a feedlot, the price
:08:48. > :08:56.was very low. The big dry shows no sign of leaving. The fight to
:08:57. > :09:00.survive continues. The one village, this farmer has sold a quarter of
:09:01. > :09:05.his Angus beef herd, as the financial effect of the drought
:09:06. > :09:09.intensify. 30% of the income gone for the year, Sony to try to make
:09:10. > :09:13.that up in the next 12 months. I don't see how we are going to do
:09:14. > :09:21.that, it is a real concern. You get to my age, and you worry about where
:09:22. > :09:24.you are going to go. Drought relief has been approved by the Australian
:09:25. > :09:30.government. This is a country that is well used to nature's extremes,
:09:31. > :09:42.but this drought is testing the community like never before.
:09:43. > :09:49.Making headlines also, Japan is suspending transactions involving
:09:50. > :09:53.bitcoin. The move follows a collapse of a bitcoin exchange last week,
:09:54. > :10:02.which the government is still tried to explain. It was at one time the
:10:03. > :10:16.largest coin exchange. It may have lost 800,000 bitcoin to hackers.
:10:17. > :10:30.A quick look at the Asian markets, which are currently in positive
:10:31. > :10:35.territory. China has announced that it has maintained its growth target
:10:36. > :10:46.for this year, at 7.5%. Thank you for joining us.
:10:47. > :11:05.Our top stories: I'm just going to bring you some other stories, but I
:11:06. > :11:09.think we will bring you this first. Rebekah Brooks from News of the
:11:10. > :11:10.World says she knew