:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:23.China unveils its first home-grown passenger jet, how will it compete
:00:24. > :00:34.globally? Desperate farmers in Indonesia try to end the drought the
:00:35. > :00:40.old-fashioned way. Good morning, Asia. That you could join us for
:00:41. > :00:45.Asia Business Report. I am Rico Hizon. China's first passenger
:00:46. > :00:54.airliner has rolled off the assembly line. It is a narrow body jet that
:00:55. > :00:58.can seat 168 passengers. It is similar in size to the Airbus A320
:00:59. > :01:04.and the Boeing 737. It could still be several years until it enters
:01:05. > :01:08.service but will it be able to compete with the European and
:01:09. > :01:19.American rivals? Earlier, I asked these questions to a member of happy
:01:20. > :01:25.knack flight Global. Right now, China purchases a large percentage
:01:26. > :01:33.of American and European aircraft. This won't take a dent out of Boeing
:01:34. > :01:37.and Airbus's books,... There will surely be room in the Chinese
:01:38. > :01:41.industry, because this initiative is led by the Chinese government, so
:01:42. > :01:47.they will be a signing these aircraft are the major carriers.
:01:48. > :01:53.Yes, all the Chinese airlines will be running this aircraft, but the
:01:54. > :02:01.question will be how efficient it will be, will it be as good as its
:02:02. > :02:06.rivals? This will only be rolled out in 2019, and by that time, in terms
:02:07. > :02:10.of tech ology and innovation, Airbus and Boeing will be way ahead of
:02:11. > :02:13.them. Airbus and Boeing move incrementally as well, but they will
:02:14. > :02:19.have very competitive product at that time. The 2019 date is also not
:02:20. > :02:24.a fixed date, there are a lot of issues the Chinese will have to deal
:02:25. > :02:28.with to get this off the ground. Systems integration, ensuring safety
:02:29. > :02:33.and getting it certified. This is just the beginning, we are nowhere
:02:34. > :02:38.near the end. In other business news, US regulators have found that
:02:39. > :02:44.more Volkswagen made cars, including Porsche and Audi were fitted with
:02:45. > :02:49.devices designed to cheat emissions tests. VW has already admitted that
:02:50. > :02:52.the 11 million cars had the so-called defeat device. A US
:02:53. > :03:01.investigation is under way and affecting at least 10,000 more cars
:03:02. > :03:07.from 2015-2016. Search giant Google will be launching its own delivery
:03:08. > :03:13.service in two years. Other online retailers like Amazon and Alibaba
:03:14. > :03:16.are experimenting with this. Google has announced its plan to return to
:03:17. > :03:22.China after leaving the market five years ago due to government
:03:23. > :03:25.censorship. Austria's central bank holds the key interest rate meeting
:03:26. > :03:30.today, and another carcass on the table. The reserve bank's last move
:03:31. > :03:34.was in May, when it reduced the cash rate to 2%. It has been cautious
:03:35. > :03:42.ever since, with inflation at key concern. How will that factor in
:03:43. > :03:46.today's decision? I was speaking to a representative from HSBC in Sydney
:03:47. > :03:51.saying there is a good chance the RBA would make a cut. The economic
:03:52. > :03:53.regulator has looked reasonable, with great looking like it is
:03:54. > :04:01.lifting into the third quarter this year. The RBA themselves have said
:04:02. > :04:05.that they expect GDP to lift in the third quarter. The question is
:04:06. > :04:08.whether there is enough rope in the economy to get the unemployment rate
:04:09. > :04:15.falling, and whether we have enough growth to keep inflation on target.
:04:16. > :04:19.On that front it is a little... It hasn't really started to fall,
:04:20. > :04:25.unemployment, but it has not been falling. Last week, we were told
:04:26. > :04:29.that inflation is running at a low level. We think on balance the RBA
:04:30. > :04:32.will be more worried about inflation, potentially undershooting
:04:33. > :04:42.their target even though growth is lifting. We think that means we will
:04:43. > :04:45.see a cut. While financial analysts place their bets on whether the RBA
:04:46. > :04:49.will cut interest rates today, the rest of the country will be getting
:04:50. > :04:58.on the nation's best-known and most prestigious horse race, the
:04:59. > :05:07.Melbourne happy knack cup. It is the biggest betting day in Australia. I
:05:08. > :05:15.spoke to be CEO of one of the largest betting agencies in the
:05:16. > :05:22.country. The Melbourne Cup close to 163 countries, and in Asia we will
:05:23. > :05:30.see customers betting about 100 million Hong Kong dollars, we will
:05:31. > :05:38.see Singapore also betting on the customers -- customers in Singapore
:05:39. > :05:43.betting. A famous Japanese horse is running, so there will be a lot of
:05:44. > :05:53.money that in Japan as well. Who are the favourites? Fame Game will be
:05:54. > :06:02.hard to beat, but my money is on Are Trip to Paris. Heavy rain in some
:06:03. > :06:07.parts of Indonesia has significantly reduced the number of peatland fires
:06:08. > :06:11.that have enveloped much of South East Asia in a thick haze. But Rice
:06:12. > :06:14.producing areas are still suffering from a severe drought. Farmers are
:06:15. > :06:27.desperate for rain. Let us pray that rain comes and
:06:28. > :06:33.washes our sorrows away, chunk of the women of this village in central
:06:34. > :06:38.Java. After months of severe drought they are hoping the gods will be
:06:39. > :06:41.moved by this rainmaking ritual. TRANSLATION: This is about
:06:42. > :06:51.communicating with God in order for rain to be sent by God. After the
:06:52. > :06:54.mock battle the community eats rice together. At this time of year they
:06:55. > :07:01.should be planting their paddy fields. TRANSLATION: All the land in
:07:02. > :07:04.the village is dry and uncultivated. We are waiting for the rain to come
:07:05. > :07:10.then we will start to plant out paddy fields. Agriculture accounts
:07:11. > :07:15.for nearly 40% of Indonesia's gross domestic product. More than half of
:07:16. > :07:19.poor households in Indonesia live off the land. Due to the drought,
:07:20. > :07:26.this man says he is thinking about selling his soil to make Rex.
:07:27. > :07:32.TRANSLATION: This year, the dry season has been very long, we are
:07:33. > :07:39.already preparing our rice seeds. These are the conditions we have
:07:40. > :07:43.without water -- bricks. Where water is available, people wait in line to
:07:44. > :07:50.get it. Relief is meant to be on its way with rain is predicted to fall
:07:51. > :07:52.next month. But the World Bank says due to failed crops caused by this
:07:53. > :07:58.drought, the price of rice could rise by 10%, hitting the poor the
:07:59. > :08:01.hardest. This would put pressure on President Joko Widodo, who has made
:08:02. > :08:10.poverty reduction a key target. In China, the so-called peer-to-peer
:08:11. > :08:16.lending industry has grown substantially. It allows you to lend
:08:17. > :08:20.directly to an individual and bid against others to establish the
:08:21. > :08:25.interest rate. Companies that facilitate this are now in direct
:08:26. > :08:28.competition with banks. So, why is one company seeking to expand with
:08:29. > :08:38.backing from a major bank and how will regulators react? If you look
:08:39. > :08:48.at what has been happening lately, not just in finance but with
:08:49. > :08:54.companies like Uber, Airbnb, it is a concept of shared economy. Resources
:08:55. > :09:02.are limited and we have to learn how to share. Peer-to-peer lending is
:09:03. > :09:07.still in its infancy and is quite unregulated in China. If authorities
:09:08. > :09:14.decide to tighten the screws, your company should face significant
:09:15. > :09:19.challenges. We are often asked questions about what might happen,
:09:20. > :09:24.and we try to tailor that to our ability. We try to limit the
:09:25. > :09:28.business model... I think the best thing that could happen to our
:09:29. > :09:33.industry is to have regulations. Essentially your company falls under
:09:34. > :09:39.shadow finances? We fall under non- banking financial transactions. I
:09:40. > :09:46.was discussing earlier how the word shadow means that the transactions
:09:47. > :09:52.are not on the credit bill of China, but it does not mean they are
:09:53. > :09:58.illegal. They are 100% legal. A bank, when it gets a customer it has
:09:59. > :10:02.to register its actions, or guarantee companies won't be able to
:10:03. > :10:10.tell. That is an industrywide problem, so we want to be able to
:10:11. > :10:15.put our data on the register and access other people's data. That is
:10:16. > :10:24.how we will all end up doing a good job in debt management. If you would
:10:25. > :10:30.like to follow us on social media, we are on Twitter. Thank you for
:10:31. > :10:40.investing your time with us, I'm Rico Hizon.
:10:41. > :10:45.The Russian aviation authority says it's too early to speculate what
:10:46. > :10:48.caused a plane to crash in Egypt on Saturday,