:00:15. > :00:22.Myanmar prepares for its first democratically elected government in
:00:23. > :00:28.five decades. What will this mean for the economy and investors?
:00:29. > :00:29.Indonesia sees a surge in transport services catering exclusively for
:00:30. > :00:41.women. Good morning, Asia, hello, world.
:00:42. > :00:44.Glad you could join us for this Monday edition of Asia Business
:00:45. > :00:48.Report, I'm Rico Hizon in Singapore. In Myanmar, the
:00:49. > :00:52.south-east Asian economy's new parliament convenes for the first
:00:53. > :00:56.time later today since the opposition party won a landslide
:00:57. > :01:00.victory in November. As the economy emerges from decades of military
:01:01. > :01:03.rule, companies from around the world have poured billions of
:01:04. > :01:07.dollars into the country to get a foothold in one of Asia's last
:01:08. > :01:13.untapped markets. China is the largest investor in the country with
:01:14. > :01:17.more than 15 billion US dollars in cumulative investments. The next
:01:18. > :01:26.biggest investor is Singapore with about 12 billion US dollars. And in
:01:27. > :01:33.third is Thailand with 10.3 US dollars billion. But many investors
:01:34. > :01:35.are worried. So what can we expect from the new parliament?
:01:36. > :01:44.It is a feeling of anticipation and hope. We will have to see when the
:01:45. > :01:48.new parliament convenes today. We don't know yet who will be in the
:01:49. > :01:54.new cabinet. The only thing we do know is that the NLD, the National
:01:55. > :02:00.League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi will be the dominant force. We
:02:01. > :02:04.don't know who she will appoint as ministers and who parliament will
:02:05. > :02:08.elect as president. Could there be concern among investors and the
:02:09. > :02:12.business community that Aung San Suu Kyi's party is inexperienced in
:02:13. > :02:16.handling economic affairs? Absolutely. That's the big question,
:02:17. > :02:25.will she be able to make the transition from opposition leader to
:02:26. > :02:29.have having the ability to lead the country? Have they given a sense to
:02:30. > :02:35.investors how they will manage the economy? Yes. The NLD has put out
:02:36. > :02:42.the news that they want to continue the opening of the country. They
:02:43. > :02:47.want to open it to foreign investors. Many foreign investors
:02:48. > :02:50.have moved in, but quite a few have hung back over the last six months
:02:51. > :02:58.to see how the elections would play out. But now we will be waiting to
:02:59. > :03:02.see who is in the new cabinet. We will see new investors coming in. In
:03:03. > :03:07.the meantime, Aung San Suu Kyi will really focus not only on bringing in
:03:08. > :03:12.new investment but also the rule of law, the peace process with the
:03:13. > :03:16.minorities, agriculture, education. What should be her priority in the
:03:17. > :03:22.first 100 days in terms of economic reforms? What would be the top
:03:23. > :03:29.three? What we are going to see is a cabinet that will manage the economy
:03:30. > :03:33.and make the right decisions. Also in the past they have had some
:03:34. > :03:39.left-leaning tendencies, even some former communists, so we want to see
:03:40. > :03:41.that she is really keeping opening up the economy to the outside
:03:42. > :03:53.world. That was Myanmar investment expert
:03:54. > :03:57.Hans. In China there is more bad economic news, the latest government
:03:58. > :04:00.numbers have revealed manufacturing in China slowed again in January
:04:01. > :04:06.hitting its weakest level in more than three years. It is growing at
:04:07. > :04:10.its slowest pace in a court of a century and $1 trillion has already
:04:11. > :04:14.flowed out from the equity markets. But could the outlook get any
:04:15. > :04:18.worse? One leading financial forecaster thinks so. He spoke to
:04:19. > :04:25.our Asia business correspondent. The huge expansion of credit has
:04:26. > :04:30.funded an enormous investment boom, some of which has left China with a
:04:31. > :04:35.use for capital stock for the future but a significant amount has
:04:36. > :04:39.probably been wasted on apartment blocks that will never be occupied
:04:40. > :04:44.and things like that -- useful. It does mean there will be a major
:04:45. > :04:48.problem of bad debts in the banking system. There are many loans that
:04:49. > :04:53.have been extended to companies that are now loss-making and cannot repay
:04:54. > :04:57.the debts. Essentially they are only repaying their existing debts by
:04:58. > :05:01.borrowing more. How much of a problem is the credit boom that is
:05:02. > :05:07.continuing to unwind in China going to be for the overall economy, can
:05:08. > :05:12.the officials manage it? Overall the Chinese economy has two shift to a
:05:13. > :05:16.consumer focused service sector economy and there are some signs
:05:17. > :05:21.that is continuing to progress. The creation of urban jobs last year was
:05:22. > :05:24.very positive at about 13 million. But in the industrial and
:05:25. > :05:30.construction sectors for the economy, things like steel, cement,
:05:31. > :05:34.glass, there is a major industrial slowdown occurring in China, in a
:05:35. > :05:38.sense a hard landing already occurring. It's going to be very
:05:39. > :05:41.difficult for the Chinese authorities to manage the
:05:42. > :05:45.consequences of that on the financial system, but they still
:05:46. > :05:49.have significant capacity in terms of the national balance sheet, the
:05:50. > :05:52.actual national debt isn't that high. There's lots of things they
:05:53. > :05:56.can do but it is still a big challenge. Are you confident they
:05:57. > :06:02.have the ability and capability to be able to pull this off? Last year
:06:03. > :06:06.was a bit of a shock because there's been schizophrenic policies, first
:06:07. > :06:11.encouraging the equity market boom, then trying to control it, then
:06:12. > :06:14.trying to control the bust. There's been an attitude towards creditors
:06:15. > :06:19.claim were first they have said we have got to call a halt to credit
:06:20. > :06:24.growth, we need hard discipline in the system and then when the system
:06:25. > :06:26.has produced default they have bailed out wealth management
:06:27. > :06:31.products and encouraged more credit. There's been schizophrenia
:06:32. > :06:33.and a lack of consistency. That reflects the fact there are
:06:34. > :06:36.different points of view within the government and this isn't a perfect
:06:37. > :06:42.system for getting a clear way forward. Yes, there are lots of very
:06:43. > :06:47.competent people thinking about these problems but it turns out this
:06:48. > :06:51.system is human after all and its policy responses may be imperfect,
:06:52. > :06:52.and that will produce some turbulence in the market reaction to
:06:53. > :07:01.it. A slowdown in China affecting the
:07:02. > :07:05.economy of South Korea as well, where exports to the mainland
:07:06. > :07:08.tumbled more than 20% in the month of January. Exports to the US also
:07:09. > :07:15.on the downside. Moving out to the automobile
:07:16. > :07:21.industry and Japan's halting production at its domestic plans for
:07:22. > :07:25.a week due to a steel shortage, following an explosion at a facility
:07:26. > :07:30.operated by one of its affiliate is. The UK's biggest bank HSBC is
:07:31. > :07:35.planning to impose a global freeze on pay and hiring in 2016. The
:07:36. > :07:40.measures are part of their cost-cutting drive. It's already
:07:41. > :07:43.announced thousands of job cuts. Falling oil prices continuing to
:07:44. > :07:47.affect developing economies around the world and Nigeria has asked the
:07:48. > :07:54.World Bank and the African development bank for a $3.5 billion
:07:55. > :07:57.urgency loan. To Jakarta, which has seen a growing number of transport
:07:58. > :08:03.services catering exclusively to women. The motorcycle taxis offer
:08:04. > :08:05.better security and comfort in the world's largest Muslim country. And
:08:06. > :08:15.some of the drivers are also women. Getting around Jakarta can be a
:08:16. > :08:18.chore, but for many women the daily commute is a potentially harrowing
:08:19. > :08:27.journey of sexual harassment or worse. TRANSLATION: In other forms
:08:28. > :08:31.of public transport, like minivans, there are too many men in such a
:08:32. > :08:38.tight space, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. However I feel
:08:39. > :08:43.safe on the ladies transport because the bikers are also women. They are
:08:44. > :08:47.capitalising on the safety concerns by running transport services
:08:48. > :08:54.exclusively for women. Its drivers aren't difficult to spot, and they
:08:55. > :08:57.say business is brisk. The other online motor taxi services are
:08:58. > :09:02.convenient but there's no service to take care of the comfort of women.
:09:03. > :09:07.This demand has been partly driven by the rape of a woman in a public
:09:08. > :09:15.minivan, which sparked uproar in the city last year. TRANSLATION: The
:09:16. > :09:19.government hasn't really done much. Even when there are passengers who
:09:20. > :09:23.felt they had been harassed and reported it to authorities, the
:09:24. > :09:29.police were often confused about how to tackle the problem. They should
:09:30. > :09:33.take immediate action and there must be CCTV installed at unsafe public
:09:34. > :09:38.spots in the city. Jakarta's traffic may not be any better, but perhaps
:09:39. > :09:40.women can feel a little safer on their daily commute through this
:09:41. > :09:49.congested city. And before we go, a quick look at
:09:50. > :09:52.the markets and we start with the Schengen and Shanghai stock
:09:53. > :09:56.markets. They are currently in negative territory because of the
:09:57. > :10:01.bad news on the economic front, a three-year low for the manufacturing
:10:02. > :10:07.centre. The Shanghai Composite index down by about a fifth of a percent,
:10:08. > :10:14.the Schengen Zen down by about 0.35%. Japan in positive territory
:10:15. > :10:18.because of the positive effect of the bank of Japan move unexpectedly
:10:19. > :10:23.slashing interest rates into negative territory for the first
:10:24. > :10:28.time. Also the Hang Seng up by Mauboy 4% and the warlords gaining
:10:29. > :10:39.0.8%. Overall positive the regional markets. -- up by 0.4%. -- in the
:10:40. > :10:43.regional markets. That's all for now for now, Cabaye.
:10:44. > :10:47.Deputies in Myanmar from Aung San Suu Kyi's party get ready