:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore
:00:16. > :00:22.Online limits. China clamps down on foreign companies using the Internet
:00:23. > :00:26.to do business. And how expensive is your city? We
:00:27. > :00:29.look at the latest cost of living rankings. Prices are falling but
:00:30. > :00:43.Singapore still tops fellow, Asia. Good morning, world.
:00:44. > :00:47.Thanks for joining us for this edition of Asia Business Report, I'm
:00:48. > :00:50.Rico Hizon in Singapore. A new law to regulate the Internet comes into
:00:51. > :00:56.effect in China today and it could have a major impact on what foreign
:00:57. > :00:59.firms can put online. They aim to restrict foreign-owned companies
:01:00. > :01:03.including ones in joint ventures from publishing a wide range of
:01:04. > :01:08.materials on the Web. But there are doubts about how the new rules will
:01:09. > :01:10.be enforced, as Robin Brant from Shanghai reports.
:01:11. > :01:17.There is no shortage of foreign firms here in China. They have been
:01:18. > :01:21.selling, they've been constructing, and they've been making here for a
:01:22. > :01:25.long time. But this new law isn't about controlling what they do in
:01:26. > :01:30.the shops, it's about controlling what they on the Internet. Taken at
:01:31. > :01:34.face value, it has very drastic implications. No foreign firm would
:01:35. > :01:38.be allowed to publish anything online, that means news, news,
:01:39. > :01:43.video, maps, maybe even instruction booklets. Only Chinese owned firms
:01:44. > :01:49.with servers in China would be allowed to do that, and they would
:01:50. > :01:51.also have to stick to the usual censorship laws here with core
:01:52. > :01:56.socialist values at the heart of what they do. What happens next?
:01:57. > :02:01.Here's what one legal expert thinks. TRANSLATION: in China, any
:02:02. > :02:04.present publication on the Internet needs to have permission, this
:02:05. > :02:09.permission is for both local and international companies. All the
:02:10. > :02:12.Chinese companies need to have this doormat this permission, so do the
:02:13. > :02:16.foreign companies. If the foreign companies don't need to have the
:02:17. > :02:20.permission then it's a privilege. The indications for big foreign
:02:21. > :02:25.firms like Apple could be very serious. China is the biggest market
:02:26. > :02:28.in the world for its App Store. Is it suddenly going to change the
:02:29. > :02:33.structure of the business because it doesn't like the look of this new
:02:34. > :02:37.Internet Law? Disney is opening a theme park in June. If it doesn't
:02:38. > :02:43.think it can abide by these restrictions will it take down its
:02:44. > :02:46.online content in China? Something the law is so broad and ambiguous
:02:47. > :02:52.that it's very unlikely to be in force, and even if it is, it'll be
:02:53. > :02:56.very selective. The reality is something is this is the government
:02:57. > :03:00.in Beijing trying to remind foreign firms that it thinks it can control
:03:01. > :03:02.the Internet in China, and it wants to use it for its game and nobody
:03:03. > :03:09.else's. Robin Brant in Shanghai. In other
:03:10. > :03:13.news making headlines, a surprise decision from the Reserve Bank of
:03:14. > :03:19.New Zealand, the central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate to a
:03:20. > :03:23.record low of 2.2%. The bank signalled that it could still go
:03:24. > :03:27.even lower due to concerns about weak international growth and lower
:03:28. > :03:31.prices for its dairy exports. The New Zealand dollar falling more than
:03:32. > :03:36.1% on this latest move. New Zealand has kept rates higher than many
:03:37. > :03:39.other countries since the 2008 global financial turmoil.
:03:40. > :03:44.New Zealand isn't the only central bank that meets today, the bank of
:03:45. > :03:49.Korea has continued the policy that it has had for the last nine
:03:50. > :03:55.months, and that may have kept the cost of borrowing unchanged. At
:03:56. > :04:01.current levels, which are also at a record low of 1.5%. The ECB is
:04:02. > :04:06.expected to unveil further easing as well on Thursday, so what will other
:04:07. > :04:07.central banks do and why are they diverging on policy? Let's listen
:04:08. > :04:22.in. It's not that long ago we were all
:04:23. > :04:26.wondering which month in 2016 with the Bank of England in the city of
:04:27. > :04:29.London raise interest rates. It was thought monetary and in Britain was
:04:30. > :04:34.moving in the opposite direction to the ECB. No longer. Now it's thought
:04:35. > :04:36.more likely the bank will cut rates from a level that's already very
:04:37. > :04:47.low. Here in Asia, the bank of Japan's
:04:48. > :04:51.controversial move to push interest rates below zero cut everyone off
:04:52. > :04:56.guard -- court. The Japanese yen was getting too strong for the bank's
:04:57. > :05:00.liking and hurting exports and Japanese companies were holding onto
:05:01. > :05:04.massive piles of cash. So, to force the yen lower and to get companies
:05:05. > :05:09.spending again, the bank of Japan pushed rates into negative territory
:05:10. > :05:13.but that had a negative impact on the people of Japan. Savers there
:05:14. > :05:24.have to pay the bank to hold onto their cash. That, what does the
:05:25. > :05:26.central bank do next? Japan is still struggling and it looks like the
:05:27. > :05:32.bank of Japan has limited options to get the economy
:05:33. > :05:41.last year, America's Central Bank pushed the US back into the world of
:05:42. > :05:46.positive interest rates just. Because 0.25% rise after several
:05:47. > :05:51.years near zero isn't much. But the assumption is American rates are now
:05:52. > :05:55.on course to rise, albeit slowly. Yet this depends on the continued
:05:56. > :06:00.growth of the world's largest economy. And one of the headwinds
:06:01. > :06:05.America's economy faces is the strength of the US dollar, which
:06:06. > :06:10.makes American exports more expensive abroad. If the decisions
:06:11. > :06:13.by other central banks, such as the ECB, strengthen the dollar further,
:06:14. > :06:17.who knows what the knock on effects will be?
:06:18. > :06:23.Global correspondence there on monetary. Do you think the city you
:06:24. > :06:27.live in is expensive? If you're in Singapore then you're not surprised
:06:28. > :06:33.to learn that once again this island state has been ranked the most
:06:34. > :06:36.expensive place in the world. In a survey by the Economist intelligence
:06:37. > :06:40.unit, Hong Kong is running a close second. We will look at other places
:06:41. > :06:42.in a moment, but first, here's Lisa.
:06:43. > :06:49.Here I am in Singapore, which has once again been ranked the world's
:06:50. > :06:53.most expensive city, but it's not in supermarkets where the cost hits
:06:54. > :06:57.you. A loaf of bread for example costs around half of what it would
:06:58. > :07:01.in a city like New York. And a basket of shopping like this one is
:07:02. > :07:06.actually cheaper than in many other Asian cities. In fact, this lot will
:07:07. > :07:12.cost you about 30% more in Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo. So what is it
:07:13. > :07:17.about Singapore that makes it the world's priciest place? Well, this
:07:18. > :07:21.is the big one. A car is prohibitively expensive for most
:07:22. > :07:24.people. It's not just the cost of the imported vehicle but the feed
:07:25. > :07:29.you have to pay just for the privilege of owning it. But getting
:07:30. > :07:35.from a to B isn't the only thing that costs a not. Education, utility
:07:36. > :07:36.bills and even shopping for clothes can make Singapore a very expensive
:07:37. > :07:45.place to live. Well, the gap between Singapore and
:07:46. > :07:49.to places that took equal second in the cost of living rankings, Hong
:07:50. > :07:55.Kong and zero, has narrowed significantly. Earlier I spoke to
:07:56. > :07:58.Simon from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Singapore has had
:07:59. > :08:05.very low in patient over the last year so many prices have fallen,
:08:06. > :08:08.food, energy are down, and another big driver in the difference between
:08:09. > :08:15.Hong Kong is the Hong Kong dollar has been very low. We have seen the
:08:16. > :08:19.decrease in the Singapore dollar against the US dollar and this has
:08:20. > :08:23.impacted the cost of living? It has. The gap between Hong Kong and
:08:24. > :08:27.Singapore has narrowed significantly. Something worth
:08:28. > :08:32.noting about the survey, it is focused on the cost of living for
:08:33. > :08:37.expats. And lower prices aren't always a good thing. One reason why
:08:38. > :08:41.Singapore is so expensive is it is costly to own a car, which gives us
:08:42. > :08:46.crowded streets and easy commutes. One of the most expensive in the
:08:47. > :08:52.world, but why are you only measuring expats, why not everyone?
:08:53. > :08:56.Everyone's cost of living is measured by the consumer Price
:08:57. > :08:59.indices that are produced on a monthly or quarterly basis. This
:09:00. > :09:03.survey is designed for multinationals to use what is the
:09:04. > :09:07.cost of living for expats and business travellers. A narrowing of
:09:08. > :09:11.the cost of living between Singapore and Hong Kong, but some Chinese
:09:12. > :09:19.cities are moving up the rankings. I'm surprised that Dali and is
:09:20. > :09:22.included in this list? Dali and is an important Chinese business
:09:23. > :09:27.centre, we have ten Chinese cities in the list and they have rocketed
:09:28. > :09:32.up this year despite the weakness of the ROP, it has gone up, and food
:09:33. > :09:37.prices are rising. Let's do away with expensive cities, what about
:09:38. > :09:45.the cheapest? Does cheaper mean better? Not necessarily. There are
:09:46. > :09:48.reasons why things are cheaper that mean the quality of life are lower.
:09:49. > :09:54.The cheapest cities in the world tend to be south Asia, many of the
:09:55. > :09:58.bottom ten are India and Pakistan. If you're international firm wants
:09:59. > :10:02.to limit the cost of expat packages, increasing headcount in
:10:03. > :10:07.Mumbai and Delhi is a good idea. Simon from the Economist
:10:08. > :10:11.Intelligence Unit on the cost of living in Singapore, the most
:10:12. > :10:16.expensive city. Asian stocks are rising in mid-morning trade after US
:10:17. > :10:20.trading finished in positive territory overnight after a jump in
:10:21. > :10:24.oil prices that lifted most petroleum linked shares. The Nikkei
:10:25. > :10:32.two to five gaining about 1%. More mild gains for the Hang Seng. -- the
:10:33. > :10:34.Nikkei 225. Thanks for investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon.
:10:35. > :10:39.Goodbye for now. Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy
:10:40. > :10:44.party is due to reveal its nominations to be Myanmar's
:10:45. > :10:47.president later, after months