16/05/2016

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:00:00. > :00:14.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

:00:15. > :00:21.Thailand's dreams of economic prosperity will as the country faces

:00:22. > :00:26.its first -- worst drought in decades. And taking off. The global

:00:27. > :00:27.drone industry is predicted to be worth more than $100 billion by

:00:28. > :00:40.2020. Hello, and welcome to Asia Business

:00:41. > :00:44.Report. It has been almost two years since the military seized power in

:00:45. > :00:50.Thailand. It promised to boost the country's ailing economy, outdated

:00:51. > :00:53.today is expected to show it is still on shaky ground. The

:00:54. > :00:57.south-east Asian nation has been struggling with its worst drought in

:00:58. > :01:01.decades. It is crucial export sector has been shrinking due to weak

:01:02. > :01:08.overseas demand, and foreign investment plummeted 78% last year.

:01:09. > :01:15.So what can Thailand's military government do? Earlier I asked an

:01:16. > :01:18.economist with the World Bank. I think on the ground, especially

:01:19. > :01:21.capital and infrastructure expenditure is not rolling out at

:01:22. > :01:25.the pace they had hoped for. Getting that under way might unleash some of

:01:26. > :01:29.that consumption, late and consumption, as well as tourism. At

:01:30. > :01:34.of course tourism is subject to many other factors as well. Indeed,

:01:35. > :01:37.political stability being one of them, and we have had two years of

:01:38. > :01:42.military government taskbar. A little bit of stability, some

:01:43. > :01:48.critics say, but we also have a weak global economy. Should we be worried

:01:49. > :01:51.about most? I think one of the lingering risk that remains in the

:01:52. > :01:56.picture is China's economy egg and flailing over the weekend, with data

:01:57. > :01:59.coming out showing that China had weakened again. But of course has an

:02:00. > :02:07.impact on supply chains. One particular boost would be if Japan

:02:08. > :02:10.does a big boost, and their auto manufacturing in Thailand somehow

:02:11. > :02:17.benefits from greater investment, so on and so forth. It might be

:02:18. > :02:22.something to look out for. Turning to Japan, Prime Minister shims are

:02:23. > :02:26.they will reportedly delay plans for a another hike in the sales tax

:02:27. > :02:32.originally set for April next year. -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The

:02:33. > :02:37.sales tax was supposed to go up to 10% from the current 8%.

:02:38. > :02:42.A view more signs of slowing growth in the world's second largest

:02:43. > :02:45.economy, China. Figures from the weekend showed industrial output

:02:46. > :02:50.jumped 6% in April when compared to one year ago. That is down from the

:02:51. > :02:54.month of March. Meanwhile retail sales rose 10% in the month of

:02:55. > :02:59.April, but that is also a lower figure when compared to retail

:03:00. > :03:02.activity in March. Drones, or unmanned aircraft, are

:03:03. > :03:05.banned or heavily restricted in the airspace of most countries. It now

:03:06. > :03:09.Singapore is working with Airbus to see if they can develop drones with

:03:10. > :03:14.commercial or industrial applications. One idea is to have

:03:15. > :03:18.them delivering packages around the city. John Price from Airbus

:03:19. > :03:34.Helicopters explains the project. Drones today are more like toys. So

:03:35. > :03:39.the failure rates of drones are far lower than the ones of aircraft. The

:03:40. > :03:43.main challenge is to bring the drone to a safety level that allows it to

:03:44. > :03:50.fly over cities, to fly over citizens, without being feared. It

:03:51. > :03:56.is a key point. We have to be safe. This is our DNA and aerospace. Then

:03:57. > :04:00.the exact application, in logistics or beyond, is not exactly defined. I

:04:01. > :04:04.think it is a bit premature to say that this drone will deliver the

:04:05. > :04:09.parcel to your doorstep or in a central station. Initially, we are

:04:10. > :04:16.studying it with what we call the parcel station, which is the area

:04:17. > :04:21.where the drone will land, and will drop, or deliver the parcel, so it

:04:22. > :04:28.will not be a doorstep initially. Then we can think of many other

:04:29. > :04:31.applications, in the logistics and the other domains. I think it is

:04:32. > :04:35.quite realistic, otherwise we would not launch this project. But it is a

:04:36. > :04:40.challenge, and we like challenges. I think it will not take long to

:04:41. > :04:47.realise how credible and how feasible it is. Let's call it an 18

:04:48. > :04:53.month project, to make things short. We intend to fly in 17 months. We

:04:54. > :04:57.will run a six-month light period, so that is quite sometime, to get

:04:58. > :05:01.experience, to get feedback, to get benefit from what we will see. The

:05:02. > :05:06.challenge remains the same, safety. Safety, safety, safety.

:05:07. > :05:10.As you saw in that interview, advances are being made in trying to

:05:11. > :05:15.use drones commercially. Right now the market is estimated to be worth

:05:16. > :05:23.about $2 billion, but it is expected to balloon to as much as $127

:05:24. > :05:25.billion by 2020. Earlier, I spoke with Richard Skinner from the

:05:26. > :05:28.consulting group PricewaterhouseCoopers, and asked

:05:29. > :05:33.him which industries could potentially benefit most from the

:05:34. > :05:36.use of drones. There is many applications that we can use drones

:05:37. > :05:42.for, from a commercial point of view. These typically encompass

:05:43. > :05:46.those wearing the past, either we just couldn't do anything, or it was

:05:47. > :05:50.dangerous for people to get involved, or just quite difficult

:05:51. > :05:54.and expensive. If we think about a few examples, agriculture is a good

:05:55. > :06:00.one, as we move agriculture to a more data centric yield enhancing

:06:01. > :06:05.industry, I think that drones have a terrific part to play. But there are

:06:06. > :06:08.still lots of challenges, because there are regulations in place, and

:06:09. > :06:13.they are not consistent throughout the world. The regulation point, I

:06:14. > :06:17.think it is both a challenge and an enabler, a bit like the technology

:06:18. > :06:22.hurdles that we also need to get over. As countries start to put

:06:23. > :06:25.better regulation in place and understand it and at the same time

:06:26. > :06:32.protect us, I think that will actually enable the industry to go

:06:33. > :06:34.-- grow. Colleagues who wrote our report over in

:06:35. > :06:37.PricewaterhouseCoopers Poland, I think that is one of the most

:06:38. > :06:41.advanced countries in the world in terms of regulations, and that is

:06:42. > :06:45.helping open up the commercial side of the industry. Some of the other

:06:46. > :06:47.countries include Singapore and South Africa, where they are

:06:48. > :06:51.drafting legislation for commercial drone use. You may find yourself

:06:52. > :06:58.coming up against labour unions, people with job losses. This is the

:06:59. > :07:02.exciting thing about drones as well. That $130 billion number, that is

:07:03. > :07:05.not just the value of the drone. This is also putting into context

:07:06. > :07:10.all the other things that go around it. This could be the software, the

:07:11. > :07:15.date analytics, and importantly, the people who write navigating the

:07:16. > :07:21.drones, who understands the date and do something with it. So there is a

:07:22. > :07:24.huge opportunity for people as well. People in India are being consulted

:07:25. > :07:29.about a new law which would control how anybody publishes or uses maps.

:07:30. > :07:35.If it is past it will become illegal to publish map related information

:07:36. > :07:37.without a licence from a government agency. Anybody breaking the law

:07:38. > :07:42.could face a multimillion dollar fine or even imprisonment. The

:07:43. > :07:47.government says it would protect the country's security.

:07:48. > :07:51.In a country where the number of people owning one of these is

:07:52. > :07:56.rocketing, providing online maps is a big and growing business. But if

:07:57. > :07:59.this bill goes through, nobody from Google to the smallest businesses

:08:00. > :08:04.will be able to use the map services in India without a licence. The

:08:05. > :08:10.government will control how anybody uses maps online. For example, we

:08:11. > :08:14.are off to meet an interviewee. So I want to book a cab using a taxi apps

:08:15. > :08:18.service. I am sharing my location with the service to find a cab, but

:08:19. > :08:31.if this bill becomes law, this could become illegal unless the up as a

:08:32. > :08:39.licence. -- app has a licence. So, this is where I need to go. Even the

:08:40. > :08:45.map the drivers used to navigate would be illegal. What if I take a

:08:46. > :08:48.picture and uploaded? I am sharing crucial mapping information, and

:08:49. > :08:52.would need a licence to do that. This is one of the reasons why India

:08:53. > :08:56.is proposing the new law. It wants to control how the country's

:08:57. > :09:00.boundaries are detected, and the government says it will protect

:09:01. > :09:03.India, because it maps show sensitive locations that could be

:09:04. > :09:11.used by terrorist groups to plan terrorist attacks. So, we have

:09:12. > :09:15.navigated to my destination. I have come to meet someone who is a member

:09:16. > :09:24.of an online campaign called cup back save the cup Acma. -- Save the

:09:25. > :09:27.Map. For larger companies, it is much easier to deal with the

:09:28. > :09:31.processes that the government is asking for. For small start-ups,

:09:32. > :09:38.they might not even be in the game of getting information about

:09:39. > :09:42.sensitive places. But the act creates an overall situation where

:09:43. > :09:45.everybody in this space is threatened, that they might be

:09:46. > :09:51.charged, they might be sued, under this particular act. The bill is

:09:52. > :09:54.still a draft, and the government is inviting opinions on it until the

:09:55. > :09:57.fourth of June. Ministers have been speaking to the press and insisting

:09:58. > :10:01.that it will not create hurdles for businesses if it creep -- if it

:10:02. > :10:06.becomes law. A quick look at the markets before

:10:07. > :10:12.we go. Lots of them have opened, including Japan's Nick Hay and

:10:13. > :10:15.Australia's ASX. We can see the Japanese market gaining, due to some

:10:16. > :10:19.bargain-hunting, even though we saw Wall Street closed lower on Friday.

:10:20. > :10:26.We had that less than enthusiastic dart from China as well. -- data

:10:27. > :10:30.from China. Oil prices under pressure, and there is lots talk

:10:31. > :10:32.about the yen. That is it for this edition of Asia Business Report.

:10:33. > :10:34.Thank you for watching.