17/03/2016 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Global concern: the US central bank says rates would rise as quickly as

planned. Stand back! We will take a look at Indonesia's explosive

approach to illegal fishing. Good morning Asia, hello world, it is

Thursday, glad you can join us for this edition of Asia Business

Report. We kick off with the US Federal Reserve and the central bank

has done what everyone expected it to do. Holding interest rates

steady. Janet Yellen's comments about the future outlook are drawing

attention. Concerns about the state of the global economy means that the

Fed's plans to raise rates several times this year have been pared

back. Earlier I asked about the concerns over global growth. What

you are seeing is a case where making a non- move by leaving rates

on hold was actually quite significant, in part because the

officials at the Federal Reserve went on to add in their statement

and in the accompanying information they provide with the decision, that

they are actually going to reduce the number of rate increases, or at

least that is their expect patient, that the number of increases this

year will be far fewer than previously expected in December. We

are now looking at possibly two rate rises this year instead of four. The

chair of the bank made it clear why. She said the main reason was

concerns about slower global growth. You have seen a shift this time in

most participants' assessment of the appropriate path for policy. As I

tried to indicate, I think that this reflects a somewhat slower projected

path for global growth, for growth in the global economy outside the

US. Paring back the number of interest-rate hikes this year was a

boon for Wall Street, but it hurt the US dollar. And that is because

in part what you assume is that when rates are likely to go up, the US

dollar goes up with it. Essentially, in some ways you could argue what

the Federal Reserve was doing was monetary easing, so policy will be

Lucifer longer. In other words, rates will stay lower for longer,

and that will have the knock-on effect of putting downward pressure

on the US dollar. That is perhaps less of a surprise that we saw the

dollar fall, and the markets like what they hear with the S hitting

a high. This latest data from Japan also reflect those global economic

woes. Exports falling by 40% in February compared to eurozone

levels. That is less of a decline than in January, but worse than

affected. This ongoing slowdown could continue to hamper global

growth for the Japanese economy. ZTE says it will delay publication

of its annual results after the US put tough new export restrictions on

at last week. US suppliers can no longer supply some crucial

components to ZTE because Washington has accused the company of violating

sanctions on Iran. The British Chancellor says he plans to back --

crack down on corporations to minimise how much tax they pay. He

also says some companies will be stopped avoiding paying tax anyway.

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago and its waters cover a

vast area, making it difficult to stop illegal fishing. The government

estimates it is costing them 20 billion US dollars every year in

lost revenue. When Indonesian officials catch a

boat fishing illegally, this is what they do with it. There is no legal

process, they simply blow up the boats. These men are the frontline

in Indonesia's fight against illegal and unregulated fishing. It is part

of a task force set up a year ago, and their job is to control the vast

waters of the archipelago. We have such a huge area to watch, with our

capacity it is impossible, so that is the only way. So it is like a

scare tactic? Yes, and it has really worked. How do you know that? As I

don't think anybody is happy to have a boat blown up and sunk. Millions

of Indonesians rely on fishing to survive, and the coast of Java is

heavily fished. Fishing family say it is getting harder to make a

living and they are being left behind in terms of technology and

skills. TRANSLATION: We are angry. Who wouldn't be angry? Our fish are

being stolen and it is getting harder for us. Their equipment is

bigger and better than our. This is the most high profile capture by

Indonesia. The ship as change its name and number of times, the last

was the Viking. It was wanted by international police for many years

for poaching vulnerable species of fish. This boat has been raping and

pillaging the oceans. This capture is very significant. It's fishing

days over, the Indonesian government turning it into a monument to their

battle against illegal fishing. More people are travelling today

than at any time in history. And of course, many are travelling for

business. It is currently a 1.2 billion US dollars global market. At

the moment, 39% of this is in Asia and the Pacific, and there is a

suggestion Asian travellers stay close to home. Earlier I spoke to

someone from American Express global business travel, asking why Asia was

all over the top ten destinations. It is Asia, Asia, Asia. If we have a

look at the top ten destinations in Asia, particularly Singapore, you

have Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, and also Bangkok. What is interesting

out of the list is what we have seen in banking and financial services,

is that the financial centre hubs of Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong are

still maintaining a position. People don't want to communicate via Skype

or a conference call, they want to be where the action is. You have to

be, because if you are not out there having a personal relationship, it

can be a disadvantage. If you are not doing it, somebody else is.

Despite the slowdown in the global economy, we have heard about huge

numbers of people here in Asia, in the economic community, China and

India combined, more than 2 billion. Global business is a huge area.

China should replace the US as the number one travel market this year.

I see more businessmen not at the front-end of the plane, but now in

economy, so we are also seeing many companies budget conscious.

Companies know they have to travel, they need to be travelling more, but

they also don't want to spend more money. They are changing travel

policies, looking at how the class of travel impacts, economy versus

business or even premium economy. In Asia, the carriers have great

connect 30. Is this kind of trend is likely to be sustained or will we

see a shift going forward? I think in terms of a shift going forward,

the shift we will see is a change in the global economy. Business is

becoming increasingly global. Last year, 5% to four to 500 companies

were out of Asian countries, and that will be 50% before long. --

54%. Before we go, here is a quick look

at the markets. Asia is in positive territory this morning, after US

equities closed higher overnight, after the Fed left interest rates

unchanged. The dollar lost ground against the yen. The Nikkei up 1.4%.

The Hang Seng, 1.6%, the All Ordinaries 1.3%. Goodbye for now.