:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:25.The people of Japan have delivered their verdict. A victory for Shinzo
:00:26. > :00:31.Abe. What does that mean for his economic reform plans? And India's
:00:32. > :00:36.love affair with gold. We look at efforts to draw it away from temples
:00:37. > :00:46.and homes and put it back in the economy. Good morning, Asia. Hello,
:00:47. > :00:54.world. This is Asia Business Report. Japan's Prime Minister has won an
:00:55. > :00:59.election in the Upper House and appears likely to extend his
:01:00. > :01:05.majority. He pitched the election as a vote for his plans known as
:01:06. > :01:12.Abenomics. What does it mean for his reform agenda? Earlier, I spoke with
:01:13. > :01:19.a Japan economist. I think we have had some small areas of success in
:01:20. > :01:24.monetary policy. The Bank of Japan has done everything to boost the
:01:25. > :01:31.economy and inflation. The government itself has not really
:01:32. > :01:38.done much. We haven't seen the reforms. Not even those that Shinzo
:01:39. > :01:44.Abe originally alleged. Let alone those needed to keep Japan going in
:01:45. > :01:48.the long-term. -- pledged. Do you think he will go ahead with more
:01:49. > :01:53.economic reforms? There has been a lot of Reuters is about the rising
:01:54. > :01:58.income gap, et cetera. -- criticism. Will he continue reforms as
:01:59. > :02:04.promised? It is already the second election we have had during his time
:02:05. > :02:13.in power. The elections in 2014 when he did the same thing. He sold it as
:02:14. > :02:18.a vote on his economic policies and pledged economic reforms. Since then
:02:19. > :02:22.we have not seen any economic reform accepts the Trans-Pacific
:02:23. > :02:26.Partnership agreement which was already started before the election
:02:27. > :02:32.is. So, I don't think we will see much in the coming years after the
:02:33. > :02:39.election. And of course, global uncertainty like Brexit and in
:02:40. > :02:44.China. He can blame all this negative economic outcome on that.
:02:45. > :02:52.To some extent he came. I think private consumption in Japan has
:02:53. > :02:56.been weak. -- he can. It has been a four-year low. You can't blame that
:02:57. > :03:01.on global issues. Wages have not gone up in Japan. Inflation has been
:03:02. > :03:10.high, even for Japanese standard. That is something the government
:03:11. > :03:13.should have done more with. Taxes. Encouraging wage growth. This is the
:03:14. > :03:19.fault of the government, clearly. Now to another election which took
:03:20. > :03:24.place a week ago. Australia's Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has
:03:25. > :03:29.finally declared victory, and looks set to form government again. But
:03:30. > :03:39.uncertainty around the government made standard and pause what their
:03:40. > :03:44.triple-A rating on watch last week. -- Standard Poor's. Earlier I
:03:45. > :03:52.asked if the government will provide more uncertainty? We will see a
:03:53. > :03:55.degree of uncertainty We have a government, and opposition conceding
:03:56. > :04:00.defeat. We have a working majority, at least in the Lower House. One of
:04:01. > :04:09.the confusing factors here is there is a Lower House majority but an
:04:10. > :04:12.Upper House minority. It will be hard to pass controversial
:04:13. > :04:17.legislation. We have a Prime Minister and a government but no
:04:18. > :04:23.real working means of passing legislation. We see some certainty
:04:24. > :04:31.for a little while. But how the government chooses to see the
:04:32. > :04:38.legislation will be difficult. Last week, the credit rating was lowered
:04:39. > :04:44.to a negative outlook. Do you think other agencies will follow that?
:04:45. > :04:54.Some have said they and pulling to downgrade. But in this, S and P's
:04:55. > :05:01.thought no other party is willing to do what needs to be done to fix the
:05:02. > :05:04.budget deficit. Until those two parties, both parties, effectively,
:05:05. > :05:11.can come to a solution to fix the deficit, there will remain pressure
:05:12. > :05:15.on the credit rating. And I think it is likely we will see a downgrade.
:05:16. > :05:21.In your view, what does the government need to do to address
:05:22. > :05:25.that? Both parties have said within a decade they might come back to a
:05:26. > :05:29.budget balance. But there will be a debt that goes with that. There are
:05:30. > :05:34.structural problems. We spend too much money during the mining boom
:05:35. > :05:38.years. Welfare programmes, tax cuts, they went through during those
:05:39. > :05:43.times. Of course, the mining boom faded, revenue fell, but we still
:05:44. > :05:46.have the same amount of spending. Hard decisions need to be made,
:05:47. > :05:54.increased spending, decrease taxes, or maybe both. Unfortunately there
:05:55. > :06:02.is no sufficient wheel to do that. It is not inevitable, but likely,
:06:03. > :06:06.there will be a downgrade in the credit rating. We have to wait till
:06:07. > :06:12.we have someone who is ready to do it. We could come out of trouble by
:06:13. > :06:17.pure luck. We don't know. Both parties have to find a way to suit
:06:18. > :06:22.the political will to make changes needed to bring a balance to the
:06:23. > :06:31.budget. In other business news, the world's top 20 economies have
:06:32. > :06:36.growing protectionism and a downgrade in trade. The G20 had
:06:37. > :06:42.concerns over the slow overall recovery. They say protectionism has
:06:43. > :06:45.been rising since the crisis. New trade restrictions averaged the
:06:46. > :06:54.highest monthly average registered since it was monitored. Whether
:06:55. > :07:01.buying it at festivals, giving it as a wedding gift, or ceremonies,
:07:02. > :07:06.Indians love gold. 20,000 tons of aid are thought to be stashed away
:07:07. > :07:13.in people's homes, businesses, or in vaults. -- it. But this pushes up
:07:14. > :07:16.the import bill. The government is offering incentives to get it
:07:17. > :07:21.recycled and put back on the economy. We have the story.
:07:22. > :07:31.One of India's holiest Hindu shrines. 100,000 daily visitors.
:07:32. > :07:39.They don't only pray but give generously. The temple's collection
:07:40. > :07:47.boxes have amassed billions of dollars worth of cash and jewellery,
:07:48. > :07:53.and especially, bold. -- gold. Some covers the temple walls, others,
:07:54. > :07:58.kept in Treasuries, but it doesn't help the Indian economy. Now, the
:07:59. > :08:06.government is tried to get more gold into banks. -- trying. Temples are
:08:07. > :08:10.crucial to the government's plans of retrieving gold. They could have $1
:08:11. > :08:15.trillion worth of yellow metal stashed away in private lockers and
:08:16. > :08:21.safe-deposit boxes across the country. This is the richest temple
:08:22. > :08:27.in India and already has 700 tons of gold. People are bringing more
:08:28. > :08:32.everyday. This is one of the first temples to sign up to this. It gets
:08:33. > :08:40.interest payments on the gold at hands over. It says it makes sense.
:08:41. > :08:49.-- it we need to store it in a safe spot. Instead of keeping it in our
:08:50. > :08:57.Treasury. It helps with the interest we get. It is a safe way to do it.
:08:58. > :09:02.It also helps us produce costs. Temple gold will often end up here,
:09:03. > :09:08.melted down and made into bars that banks can trade. They need to reduce
:09:09. > :09:15.what they need to bring in from abroad, that is the idea. Most of
:09:16. > :09:24.India's gold is not in temples, but homes, in the form of jewellery. Is
:09:25. > :09:28.this where they need to focus? The housewife trusts the bank. Once she
:09:29. > :09:34.knows this is something she can do with her gold jewellery she is no
:09:35. > :09:40.longer wearing, she can give it to the bank, put it in a deposit, and
:09:41. > :09:44.earn interest on it. But it is exactly the cause gold is so popular
:09:45. > :09:48.that it is proving hard to tempt Indians to hand it over. Gold has
:09:49. > :09:56.always been seen as a way to store wealth and it shows no sign of
:09:57. > :10:03.losing its shine. BBC News, southern India. Let's take a quick look at
:10:04. > :10:09.the market before we go. Japan's Nikkei has gone 3% higher after the
:10:10. > :10:14.landslide victory by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Australia markets are
:10:15. > :10:22.also up by 1.5%. They are taking the due from Wall Street where Standards
:10:23. > :10:26.and Poors flirted with a record high on Friday at. That is it with this
:10:27. > :10:39.edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching.