21/11/2016 Asia Business Report

cargo ship that lost power off the coast of Dover. Let's catch up with

all the business news. It is live to Singapore and Marika Ooi with Asia

Business Report. In the final hours of the apex

summit in Lima, Peru. Global leaders have reaffirmed their commitment

towards free trade. We look at how India's cash crisis is badly

affecting those living in rural areas.

Welcome to Asia Business Report live from Singapore with me Mariko Oi.

Leaders of 21 Asian and Pacific economies have pledged to commit

themselves to greater free trade and open markets at the close of the

two-day summit in Korea. US President Barack Obama has said not

moving forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP

trade pact will undermine the US position across Asia-Pacific. The

summit had been an initially dominated by the question of whether

American President-elect Donald Trump would withdraw from the TPP.

From Lima, where Davies reports. The traditional photocall. All banks

from the days when there were obliged to dress them head to toe in

a national dress from their country are long gone. This is been a

difficult summit from Barack Obama in particular, barely raising a

smile after the difficult task of try to give assurances of the future

of US engagement in the region and the President-elect Donald Trump.

Baru, like many regional economies, have enjoyed impressive growth of --

as markets have opened up. Plans to join the TPP have been scuppered

when Mr Trump got's vow to kill the deal. -- Mr Trump's. A warning to

the US President-elect, we will work with you to a point. Even if the

United States does not want to engage in free trade, President

Trump has to know that other countries do. And they're going to.

They're going to keep training. Globalisation hasn't been good for

everyone. Poverty rates remained stubbornly high across the region

and small businesses in particular often say they need more, not less

protection. Especially from cheaply made Chinese imports. The net final

communique, a commitment from Apec leaders to more free trade and the

reaffirmation that protectionism is a danger to be avoided. Every

country now is on the same board. But we have too resisted the

temptation for the rising protectionism and free trade is the

source of growth and employment and prosperity so we are going to commit

ourselves to be free trade system by addressing a appropriately the

concerns of the disparity and so forth. At the heart of the world's

most dynamic region, Apec leaders also made a commitment to

innovation. The importance of better communication and improving

education for all. There is some hope among delegates at leaders here

that the next American president might accept the modified Pacific

trade deal. But Mr Trump might not seek argument with China. If there

is no meeting of minds, Asian and Pacific leaders have said they will

proceed, regardless, with all within the -- with without the support of

Washington. Fresh figures from Japan this

morning showed exports falling more than 10% in October when compared to

a year ago due to sluggish demand. Japanese businesses and consumers

were not so keen for overseas goods either as imports fell by 16.5%. We

were told earlier that the loss of the TPP would have significant

implications for the world's third biggest economy. He explained why.

It will affect Japan's economy quite a bit simply because Japan is one of

the most closed economies in terms of foreign direct investments. We

have very few foreign firms operating in the country and the TPP

would have opened the Japanese market, allowed more competition and

that would have been beneficial for productivity. Japan will probably be

part of the trade agreement that is now negotiated between the as Evian

and other Asian nations -- ASEAN. We won't have the more broader scope of

the TPP and it won't provide the same benefits as the TPP would have.

What is your outlook for the Japanese which of course is the key

when you are talking about exports and imports and, as you mentioned,

we saw it strengthen after Brexit, we saw it rally after Donald Trump

got elected, what is your outlook of the safe haven currency? Actually,

it weakened a lot after Donald Trump became elected. That is mostly due

to expectations of the monetary policy in the US and the lives of

fiscal policy and interest rates in the US have surged. At the same

time, we have seen the bank of Japan are not willing to let interest

rates rise at all. They have said last week they announced the first

operation to basically fix interest rates. The interest rate

differential between the Japan and the US is widening and that points

to a further weakening so we expected to fall to 120 next you

towards the dollar. Also making headlines this morning,

Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of Formula 1, has

suggested to German media that Singapore might look at dropping

Formula 1's only night race. The operator of Singapore's leg of the

race has declined to comment when asked by local media. This you's F1

race in Singapore attracted the lowest number of ticket sales since

it was launched in 2008. Earlier this you, an official said no

decision has been made on an extension even though talks have

been under way. India's e-commerce giant plans to diversify by selling

groceries. And also make a renewed push in the online furniture

business. The company plans to experiment with grocery sales next

year. US and based online retailer Amazon has already started grocery

tales in Indian cities. More and more of India's 1 billion population

are turning to the Internet to buy everything, ranging from clothes --

clothes to smartphones. It is making it the most fastest-growing market

in the world. Staying with India because it has been almost two weeks

in the government suddenly withdrew most of the country's banknotes from

circulation. It has caused a cash crisis around the country. A lot of

people in remote locations don't even use banks, let alone have

access to financial services. How can India's villagers become part of

the cashless economy that Prime Minister Mahendra Modi wants to

create. We went to find out. When winter sets in, it's time to

plant the onion crop. Fields like this would usually be packed with

farmers. But now, there is no cash to pay their wages.

TRANSLATION: Tutt there are very long queues so my employer says he

doesn't have cash to give me. He will pay me in a few weeks but we

need money to buy milk and food, children. Karsh is a lifeline for

rural India. A major region is that a lot of regions in the country

don't have easy access to banking services. -- cash. To reach out to

rule areas, the plan is to employ banking correspondence. People that

will travel to villagers find -- providing financial services but

even if everyone were to get access to a banking account, how can

cashless transactions be insured? Perhaps this, a mobile phone, could

be the answer. At one village in the western state, they are trying it

out. Customers can make payments at local stores by simply sending a

text from their mobile phones. It is a system set up by a private bank

and the village authorities. TRANSLATION: We don't keep cash in

hand here. If you want to buy anything, we do it using a mobile

phone. That is why everyone in our village is happy with the onion is

a's announcement. We have not been affected. The number of mobile phone

users in rural India has been growing rapidly and cellular

networks are slowly reaching even the most remote areas. But it is not

an instant solution. For now, a few banks that cater to roll areas are

struggling to cut -- cope with the cash crisis. For these villagers,

there is no easy escape. Over in Europe, the German

Chancellor Angela Merkel who has announced she will be running for a

fourth term in office says it will be one of the toughest elections she

has ever fought. She told her CDU party that German society had become

deeply polarised and the world was facing many challenges. This is

local who has been Chancellor for 11 years is widely seen as a

stabilising force in Europe at a time of uncertainty.

Let's look at markets before we go. Japan's Nikkei continuing its rally

that it saw on Friday. It hit the highest level in ten months and it

is all because of the weakness in the Japanese yen which we talked

about earlier. Hong Kong and Australia down at Bissau. That is it

for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thank you for watching.