:00:00. > :00:16.Milly Dowler's phone hacking. Time for the latest business news.
:00:17. > :00:23.7.5% growth, that is what China is aiming for this year at the start of
:00:24. > :00:28.its annual leaders meeting. Australia sends emergency relief to
:00:29. > :00:36.farmers hard-hit by drought in the eastern parts of the country.
:00:37. > :00:42.Welcome to the Asia Business Report. We start with China and its
:00:43. > :00:48.Parliament has begun its annual meeting in Beijing. In its opening
:00:49. > :00:57.speech, the Premier said that the world's second economy is aiming for
:00:58. > :01:01.a expansion in 2014. -- 7.5% expansion.
:01:02. > :01:06.The delegates have been listening to a speech by the Chinese Premier.
:01:07. > :01:15.This is widely viewed as a rubber stamp Parliament. But it does give a
:01:16. > :01:21.sense of the broad direction of travel of Chinese reforms. In the
:01:22. > :01:26.Premier's speech there will be a lot for investors and finance ministers
:01:27. > :01:31.across the region to be pleased about. He spoke about efforts to
:01:32. > :01:34.tackle local government debt, something that has caused concern.
:01:35. > :01:43.He spoke about continuing to liberalise interest rates. He heads
:01:44. > :01:48.at further injections of private capital in state-owned industries.
:01:49. > :01:53.And of course, the important headlines figure of 7.5% growth.
:01:54. > :02:00.There will be a sense from some people, this consensus that China
:02:01. > :02:05.needs to undergo painful structural reforms that the fact the growth
:02:06. > :02:09.rate has been kept at 7.5% that has not been any lowering of the growth
:02:10. > :02:16.rate that some will question how serious it is about embracing the
:02:17. > :02:19.pain that the reforms are going to require and when it is that China
:02:20. > :02:22.will accept the growth rate needs to come down.
:02:23. > :02:32.Fighting pollution is also at the top of the agenda. Reforms to boost
:02:33. > :02:39.non- fossil fuels, any idea when we will be getting more details of
:02:40. > :02:44.implementation? We do not have further details. Some of the
:02:45. > :02:51.measures outlined give us more of a sense of what China wants to do this
:02:52. > :02:58.year. It is a growing area of public concern. Of interest in the speech
:02:59. > :03:04.is although we have seen a little bit of the usual Communist Party
:03:05. > :03:12.official speak, such as the socialist modernisation drive, there
:03:13. > :03:19.have also been doses of reality. In the face of the economic
:03:20. > :03:22.difficulties, he said the global economy is undergoing profound
:03:23. > :03:29.adjustment and competition is getting fierce. We are at a critical
:03:30. > :03:34.juncture where the path upward is steep. Analysts will be analysing
:03:35. > :03:40.whether the reforms go far and fast enough to lighten the uphill
:03:41. > :03:46.struggle. That is outside the great Hall of
:03:47. > :03:54.the people in Beijing. You can get more on that on our website.
:03:55. > :04:00.In Australia, the economy grew by 2.8% in the final quarter of 2013
:04:01. > :04:07.when, compared to the same period in 2012. The GDP figure comes a day
:04:08. > :04:12.after the country's central bank has decided to keep its cost of
:04:13. > :04:19.borrowing on hold at 2.5%. The central bank's governor said the
:04:20. > :04:26.resources sector is set to decline. Economic growth had been driven by
:04:27. > :04:37.the mining boom and demand for national resources from China. Two
:04:38. > :04:48.things that stand out on net exports. The IBA expects consumption
:04:49. > :04:54.to hold up. -- RBA. Can this be sustained this quarter? That is an
:04:55. > :05:04.important question. One of the questions is how much will occur
:05:05. > :05:12.with future exports. Overall I think there will be enough that exports to
:05:13. > :05:18.offset the mining sector slowdown. But we see a statement that the
:05:19. > :05:27.resources are spending is going to decline significantly? Absolutely.
:05:28. > :05:33.They are expecting this. It peaked in 2012. They expected to slow down
:05:34. > :05:40.further this year. This is a bit of a trade-off. Growth could come under
:05:41. > :05:47.pressure. But they want to move away from the reliance on mining. They
:05:48. > :05:56.have also stated there will be removing away from reliance on
:05:57. > :06:05.infrastructure and construction. There is decline from the Chinese.
:06:06. > :06:12.Absolutely. But if you delve into the details, you will find there is
:06:13. > :06:18.not a risk. China will still need to offset infrastructure targets and
:06:19. > :06:27.infrastructure spending. For a while, Austria the's mining should
:06:28. > :06:30.not be too worried. -- Australia's. Emergency relief is on its way to
:06:31. > :06:37.drought hit farmers in the eastern part of Australia, with many forced
:06:38. > :06:43.to sell or slaughter cattle. It is not only inflicting a financial
:06:44. > :06:48.toll. There is a mounting psychological cost. This film
:06:49. > :06:57.includes scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.
:06:58. > :07:00.They pray for rain in these parts. This is traditionally some of
:07:01. > :07:06.Australia's as farming country. But some of the land is barren. The
:07:07. > :07:16.drought is the worst in living memory. Many waterholes have dried
:07:17. > :07:27.up. Cops have failed. Livestock sold off to make ends meet. For many
:07:28. > :07:32.farmers like as a struggle. In normal times, this would be three
:07:33. > :07:39.quarters full. People cannot find a way forward. They become very
:07:40. > :07:45.depressed. Some people take that next step, that final step. It has
:07:46. > :07:51.been more than a year that this corner had significant rainfall. The
:07:52. > :07:56.ground are turning to dust. Once upon a time this would have been
:07:57. > :08:00.full of water. Debt and depression Mt. There is still hope that the
:08:01. > :08:07.drought will be short lived. For some, they wonder how long they can
:08:08. > :08:13.survive. To keep land viable, many farmers are being forced to sell the
:08:14. > :08:18.prize cattle. In the New South Wales city, the saleyards has been awash
:08:19. > :08:23.with livestock. There is no restocking interest. Nobody is
:08:24. > :08:27.buying stock to put back on properties. If the couple are not
:08:28. > :08:36.good enough to go to a feedlot or abattoir, the price is low. --
:08:37. > :08:43.cattle. The drought shows no sign of easing its grip. Not much rain is
:08:44. > :08:53.forecast for autumn. This man has sold a quarter of his beef herd. 30%
:08:54. > :08:58.of the income is gone. We have got to try and make that up. I do not
:08:59. > :09:05.see how we can do that. It is a real concern. You worry about where you
:09:06. > :09:10.are going to go. Drought relief worth more than to read and $85
:09:11. > :09:16.million has been approved by the Australian government. -- 280 $5
:09:17. > :09:24.million. This drought is testing the community like never before.
:09:25. > :09:35.In other business News making headlines, Japan is considering
:09:36. > :09:39.taxing bit coin. It follows the collapse of an exchange, which the
:09:40. > :09:44.government is still trying to explain. It is at one point the
:09:45. > :09:50.largest exchange and filed for bankruptcy protection last week. It
:09:51. > :10:01.said it may have lost some 850,000 that coins to hackers. A class
:10:02. > :10:05.action suit is being considered. Let us take a look at the Asian
:10:06. > :10:12.markets. Most of them are positive territory. US stocks rallied
:10:13. > :10:19.overnight as concerns about the confrontation between Russia and the
:10:20. > :10:25.Ukraine has eased. With the Congress reiterating that growth this year
:10:26. > :10:31.will be at 7.5%. Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Australia
:10:32. > :10:40.all in the positive. Thank you for investing your time with us. Goodbye
:10:41. > :10:48.for now. Here are the headlines: It has been
:10:49. > :10:49.a day of danger and diplomacy in Ukraine. Russian forces