:00:00. > :00:00.cargo ship that lost power off the coast of Dover. Let's catch up with
:00:00. > :00:00.all the business news. It is live to Singapore and Marika Ooi with Asia
:00:00. > :00:17.Business Report. In the final hours of the apex
:00:18. > :00:23.summit in Lima, Peru. Global leaders have reaffirmed their commitment
:00:24. > :00:26.towards free trade. We look at how India's cash crisis is badly
:00:27. > :00:34.affecting those living in rural areas.
:00:35. > :00:43.Welcome to Asia Business Report live from Singapore with me Mariko Oi.
:00:44. > :00:46.Leaders of 21 Asian and Pacific economies have pledged to commit
:00:47. > :00:50.themselves to greater free trade and open markets at the close of the
:00:51. > :00:54.two-day summit in Korea. US President Barack Obama has said not
:00:55. > :00:59.moving forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP
:01:00. > :01:03.trade pact will undermine the US position across Asia-Pacific. The
:01:04. > :01:05.summit had been an initially dominated by the question of whether
:01:06. > :01:08.American President-elect Donald Trump would withdraw from the TPP.
:01:09. > :01:20.From Lima, where Davies reports. The traditional photocall. All banks
:01:21. > :01:24.from the days when there were obliged to dress them head to toe in
:01:25. > :01:28.a national dress from their country are long gone. This is been a
:01:29. > :01:31.difficult summit from Barack Obama in particular, barely raising a
:01:32. > :01:35.smile after the difficult task of try to give assurances of the future
:01:36. > :01:40.of US engagement in the region and the President-elect Donald Trump.
:01:41. > :01:47.Baru, like many regional economies, have enjoyed impressive growth of --
:01:48. > :01:52.as markets have opened up. Plans to join the TPP have been scuppered
:01:53. > :01:58.when Mr Trump got's vow to kill the deal. -- Mr Trump's. A warning to
:01:59. > :02:03.the US President-elect, we will work with you to a point. Even if the
:02:04. > :02:06.United States does not want to engage in free trade, President
:02:07. > :02:13.Trump has to know that other countries do. And they're going to.
:02:14. > :02:18.They're going to keep training. Globalisation hasn't been good for
:02:19. > :02:20.everyone. Poverty rates remained stubbornly high across the region
:02:21. > :02:25.and small businesses in particular often say they need more, not less
:02:26. > :02:30.protection. Especially from cheaply made Chinese imports. The net final
:02:31. > :02:33.communique, a commitment from Apec leaders to more free trade and the
:02:34. > :02:41.reaffirmation that protectionism is a danger to be avoided. Every
:02:42. > :02:44.country now is on the same board. But we have too resisted the
:02:45. > :02:52.temptation for the rising protectionism and free trade is the
:02:53. > :02:58.source of growth and employment and prosperity so we are going to commit
:02:59. > :03:06.ourselves to be free trade system by addressing a appropriately the
:03:07. > :03:12.concerns of the disparity and so forth. At the heart of the world's
:03:13. > :03:16.most dynamic region, Apec leaders also made a commitment to
:03:17. > :03:19.innovation. The importance of better communication and improving
:03:20. > :03:23.education for all. There is some hope among delegates at leaders here
:03:24. > :03:29.that the next American president might accept the modified Pacific
:03:30. > :03:34.trade deal. But Mr Trump might not seek argument with China. If there
:03:35. > :03:37.is no meeting of minds, Asian and Pacific leaders have said they will
:03:38. > :03:40.proceed, regardless, with all within the -- with without the support of
:03:41. > :03:46.Washington. Fresh figures from Japan this
:03:47. > :03:52.morning showed exports falling more than 10% in October when compared to
:03:53. > :03:56.a year ago due to sluggish demand. Japanese businesses and consumers
:03:57. > :04:04.were not so keen for overseas goods either as imports fell by 16.5%. We
:04:05. > :04:08.were told earlier that the loss of the TPP would have significant
:04:09. > :04:12.implications for the world's third biggest economy. He explained why.
:04:13. > :04:19.It will affect Japan's economy quite a bit simply because Japan is one of
:04:20. > :04:22.the most closed economies in terms of foreign direct investments. We
:04:23. > :04:27.have very few foreign firms operating in the country and the TPP
:04:28. > :04:31.would have opened the Japanese market, allowed more competition and
:04:32. > :04:37.that would have been beneficial for productivity. Japan will probably be
:04:38. > :04:47.part of the trade agreement that is now negotiated between the as Evian
:04:48. > :04:51.and other Asian nations -- ASEAN. We won't have the more broader scope of
:04:52. > :04:55.the TPP and it won't provide the same benefits as the TPP would have.
:04:56. > :04:59.What is your outlook for the Japanese which of course is the key
:05:00. > :05:05.when you are talking about exports and imports and, as you mentioned,
:05:06. > :05:10.we saw it strengthen after Brexit, we saw it rally after Donald Trump
:05:11. > :05:14.got elected, what is your outlook of the safe haven currency? Actually,
:05:15. > :05:24.it weakened a lot after Donald Trump became elected. That is mostly due
:05:25. > :05:29.to expectations of the monetary policy in the US and the lives of
:05:30. > :05:33.fiscal policy and interest rates in the US have surged. At the same
:05:34. > :05:39.time, we have seen the bank of Japan are not willing to let interest
:05:40. > :05:45.rates rise at all. They have said last week they announced the first
:05:46. > :05:50.operation to basically fix interest rates. The interest rate
:05:51. > :05:55.differential between the Japan and the US is widening and that points
:05:56. > :05:57.to a further weakening so we expected to fall to 120 next you
:05:58. > :06:04.towards the dollar. Also making headlines this morning,
:06:05. > :06:08.Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of Formula 1, has
:06:09. > :06:15.suggested to German media that Singapore might look at dropping
:06:16. > :06:18.Formula 1's only night race. The operator of Singapore's leg of the
:06:19. > :06:23.race has declined to comment when asked by local media. This you's F1
:06:24. > :06:28.race in Singapore attracted the lowest number of ticket sales since
:06:29. > :06:31.it was launched in 2008. Earlier this you, an official said no
:06:32. > :06:36.decision has been made on an extension even though talks have
:06:37. > :06:42.been under way. India's e-commerce giant plans to diversify by selling
:06:43. > :06:45.groceries. And also make a renewed push in the online furniture
:06:46. > :06:51.business. The company plans to experiment with grocery sales next
:06:52. > :06:56.year. US and based online retailer Amazon has already started grocery
:06:57. > :07:01.tales in Indian cities. More and more of India's 1 billion population
:07:02. > :07:07.are turning to the Internet to buy everything, ranging from clothes --
:07:08. > :07:11.clothes to smartphones. It is making it the most fastest-growing market
:07:12. > :07:14.in the world. Staying with India because it has been almost two weeks
:07:15. > :07:20.in the government suddenly withdrew most of the country's banknotes from
:07:21. > :07:27.circulation. It has caused a cash crisis around the country. A lot of
:07:28. > :07:31.people in remote locations don't even use banks, let alone have
:07:32. > :07:35.access to financial services. How can India's villagers become part of
:07:36. > :07:36.the cashless economy that Prime Minister Mahendra Modi wants to
:07:37. > :07:46.create. We went to find out. When winter sets in, it's time to
:07:47. > :07:50.plant the onion crop. Fields like this would usually be packed with
:07:51. > :07:55.farmers. But now, there is no cash to pay their wages.
:07:56. > :08:00.TRANSLATION: Tutt there are very long queues so my employer says he
:08:01. > :08:04.doesn't have cash to give me. He will pay me in a few weeks but we
:08:05. > :08:12.need money to buy milk and food, children. Karsh is a lifeline for
:08:13. > :08:15.rural India. A major region is that a lot of regions in the country
:08:16. > :08:23.don't have easy access to banking services. -- cash. To reach out to
:08:24. > :08:28.rule areas, the plan is to employ banking correspondence. People that
:08:29. > :08:30.will travel to villagers find -- providing financial services but
:08:31. > :08:35.even if everyone were to get access to a banking account, how can
:08:36. > :08:40.cashless transactions be insured? Perhaps this, a mobile phone, could
:08:41. > :08:47.be the answer. At one village in the western state, they are trying it
:08:48. > :08:51.out. Customers can make payments at local stores by simply sending a
:08:52. > :08:57.text from their mobile phones. It is a system set up by a private bank
:08:58. > :09:01.and the village authorities. TRANSLATION: We don't keep cash in
:09:02. > :09:05.hand here. If you want to buy anything, we do it using a mobile
:09:06. > :09:08.phone. That is why everyone in our village is happy with the onion is
:09:09. > :09:14.a's announcement. We have not been affected. The number of mobile phone
:09:15. > :09:17.users in rural India has been growing rapidly and cellular
:09:18. > :09:24.networks are slowly reaching even the most remote areas. But it is not
:09:25. > :09:29.an instant solution. For now, a few banks that cater to roll areas are
:09:30. > :09:31.struggling to cut -- cope with the cash crisis. For these villagers,
:09:32. > :09:41.there is no easy escape. Over in Europe, the German
:09:42. > :09:45.Chancellor Angela Merkel who has announced she will be running for a
:09:46. > :09:49.fourth term in office says it will be one of the toughest elections she
:09:50. > :09:54.has ever fought. She told her CDU party that German society had become
:09:55. > :09:58.deeply polarised and the world was facing many challenges. This is
:09:59. > :10:02.local who has been Chancellor for 11 years is widely seen as a
:10:03. > :10:04.stabilising force in Europe at a time of uncertainty.
:10:05. > :10:11.Let's look at markets before we go. Japan's Nikkei continuing its rally
:10:12. > :10:15.that it saw on Friday. It hit the highest level in ten months and it
:10:16. > :10:20.is all because of the weakness in the Japanese yen which we talked
:10:21. > :10:24.about earlier. Hong Kong and Australia down at Bissau. That is it
:10:25. > :10:36.for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching.