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never been broadcast before. Now on BBC News, all the latest business | :00:00. | :00:13. | |
news live from Singapore. China signs a $400 billion gas deal with | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
Russia, after a decade of talks. Singapore is ranked the world's best | :00:20. | :00:22. | |
place to do business for its sixth year. Thank you for joining us. I'm | :00:23. | :00:38. | |
Rico Hizon. The Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Shanghai to | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
witness a landmark deal that will see Russia supply China with natural | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
gas for 30 years. It marks a political triumph for Vladimir | :00:45. | :00:46. | |
Putin, who faces economic isolation in the West because of his actions | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
in Ukraine. But what exactly brought about this last`minute deal? Earlier | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
I posed that question to an energy expert from the University of | :00:55. | :01:03. | |
Singapore. For one thing, Russia has gas to sell, and it needs those | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
dollars. China needs gas. Both sides have won overall. But until we know | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
the price and how much China has to pay upfront, we cannot say who was | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
the winner. As of yesterday, when you were on the programme, there was | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
no certainty as to whether a deal would be sealed, and it was only | :01:21. | :01:22. | |
signed and delivered early evening Asia time. So could the deal have | :01:23. | :01:33. | |
been, let's sign now, discuss the price later? It looks that way, | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
pricing is not something you can finalise in two or three hours. So | :01:37. | :01:46. | |
either they just did agree a price at the last minute, regardless of | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
President stood in and said, we have President stood in and said, we have | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
a deal, sort out the details later. And certainly at the moment, no`one | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
knows. What does this agreement mean for the Chinese? Well it gives the | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
Chinese in five years' time an additional supply of gas which, at | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
that time, will account for maybe 20% of their total consumption. So | :02:10. | :02:17. | |
this is good for them, and helps their energy consumption and will | :02:18. | :02:19. | |
tackle the serious pollution problem. For the Russians? For the | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
Russians, it gives them the money to develop the far`eastern gas fields, | :02:25. | :02:26. | |
which will support local developments, and means they have | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
new customers for their gas which, if Europe starts to turn away from | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
Russia, works. So with these closer relations between the Chinese and | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
the Russians, what does it mean for the geopolitical system going on in | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
Asia now? I would not read too much into that. There has been an oil | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
pipeline for nearly ten years running between both countries. So I | :02:48. | :02:56. | |
think it is still a fairly pragmatic relationship, although they do share | :02:57. | :03:05. | |
certain strategic concerns. Phillip Andrew speed from the National | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
University of Singapore. Bright foods has bought a stake in a rival. | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
It has signed a preliminary agreement to buy 56% of the company. | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
The price was not disclosed but Israel media reports value the | :03:26. | :03:35. | |
company highly. China's factory sector posting its best performance | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
in five month according to a private survey. The PMI rose to 49.7 in May | :03:40. | :03:47. | |
from 48 .1 in April. However, that figure indicates that manufacturing | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
shrank overall as china's economic slowdown dampened demand. The US | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
central bank has started discussing ways to exit the massive stimulus | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
policy, to save it from a record low. According to the April meeting | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
minutes, they are exploring tools they could use to return the policy | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
to normal by next year. The Fed has spent more than $4 billion on | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
purchases over the last five years to support the economy. `` $4 | :04:15. | :04:24. | |
trillion. EBay is asking its users to change its passwords after the | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
company was hit by a cyber`attack. The e`commerce giant said that the | :04:28. | :04:29. | |
database containing personal information was compromised. It says | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
no credit card information or financial information was stolen. | :04:33. | :04:55. | |
The Chinese eat, so `` The Chinese e`commerce site JD.com has raised | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
billions of dollars. The demand exceeded expectations, with shares | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
being priced at $19 per share at its debut on the technology`heavy index. | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
Shares have risen after the firm posted a 29% jump in profits. | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
Singapore is the best place in the world to do business, that's | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
according to the latest survey by the Economic Intelligence Unit. It | :05:12. | :05:13. | |
sees the city retain its number one spot as an investor`friendly | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
location. It looks at a number of indicators, including political | :05:17. | :05:18. | |
stability and corporate tax rates. The cost of living and practical | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
costs make Singapore attractive as a place for foreign companies to | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
invest. However, it is not only about costs. When you think of the | :05:25. | :05:34. | |
business environment, it is also about how easy it is to do business, | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
and what the quality of the business environment is. When we measure | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
this, we look at ten different aspects of the business environment, | :05:43. | :05:44. | |
ranging from political stability, through commercial laws and | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
competition policy, all the way to the labour market and infrastructure | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
and taxation. With Singapore, the cost is a constraint, but in other | :05:52. | :06:02. | |
areas, it performs. It has excellent infrastructure, and also labour | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
policies, which in the last decade has seen the number of foreign | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
workers here as well. There are challenges as well. The same | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
organisation that ranks it as the top pace to do business also says it | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
is the world's most expensive city. Singapore's high cost of living, | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
strong currency, the soaring price of utilities as well is the cost of | :06:27. | :06:35. | |
running a car, meant it topped 131 other cities in the survey. If that | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
doesn't put you off wanting to live here, there are other challenges. | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
Such as limits to public expression and personal freedom. Some | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
restrictions on the local gas, which critics say help foster a more | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
business friendly environment. One of its many dealers, its open | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
immigration policy, has actually up set many local residents, who feel | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
as if they are discriminated against in their own country. But Singapore | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
will keep topping these global lists, much to the chagrin of other | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
Asian financial centres such as Hong Kong. Here in Hong Kong, the city | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
prides itself on a long history of being opened to entrepreneurs and | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
investors. On a number of different indicators, from the quality of its | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
workforce to government policy, to infrastructure, Hong Kong and | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
Singapore fair and equally well. But where Hong Kong lags is in so`called | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
future market opportunities. You see, this city does not set its own | :07:30. | :07:37. | |
monetary policy. Instead, Hong Kong follows a American monetary policy. | :07:38. | :07:40. | |
It has done so for 13 years. Investors and officials have liked | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
the stability which it brings. But US interest rates are expected to | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
rise sharply in the next few years, that means the cost of money in Hong | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
Kong is likely to jump as well. That may result in a fall in property | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
prices as well as in consumer spending. That makes this a less | :08:01. | :08:09. | |
welcoming environment for investors. Just over six months after | :08:10. | :08:11. | |
experiencing one of the world's worst`ever typhoons, the Philippines | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
continues to expand at a fast pace. Growth rates in 2012 and 2013 are | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
the quickest since the 1950s, how can that be after it was struck by | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
such a devastating natural disasters so recently? Our correspondent | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
explains. Six months ago, the Philippines was struck by one of the | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
worst national disasters to hit land. Typhoon Haiyan caused a | :08:31. | :08:40. | |
massive loss of life, and had a huge impact on the economy. It is | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
estimated to cut the economic growth of the entire country by a huge one | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
percentage point. But, the Philippines is still forecast to | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
grow at 6.5%, which would be the fastest in Asia except for China. | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
How can that be? This outcome is due to reconstruction, rebuilding homes, | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
and could add 3.5% GDP, that is only from what the government spends. The | :09:02. | :09:11. | |
damage from the typhoon will be felt, especially towards the front | :09:12. | :09:20. | |
of the year. But, with the offset from the government driving | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
reconstruction, the economy as a whole is expected to recover by the | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
end of the year. Headline GDP figures will reassure businesses | :09:27. | :09:35. | |
that the economy will be all right. But for those who have lost their | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
homes and their livelihoods, rebuilding will not be easy, when | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
they do not have private insurance. For them, it does not matter what | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
the big headline figures are, but rather how quickly the growth can | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
translate into means with which they can reconstruct their lives. For | :09:49. | :10:03. | |
more stories from the Philippines, make sure you log on to the BBC | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
website, where we have a page dedicated to its people, and | :10:08. | :10:17. | |
culture. Before we go, the is a quick look at the Asian markets. | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
They are all in positive territory after US equities bounced back | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
overnight after the previous day's fell off. That is after the meeting | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
which suggested that the US will keep reducing its stimulus plan. | :10:33. | :10:35. | |
Thank you for investing your time with us. I'm Mike Embley. The | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
headlines: | :10:41. | :10:41. |