Browse content similar to 15/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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I will be back with more of the day's news, including the breaking | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
news from America. MSNBC have got hold of Donald Trump's tax returns | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
from the year 2005. Now on BBC News, all the latest | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
business news live from Singapore. China's message for the world. The | :00:09. | :00:18. | |
National People's Congress comes to a close. What have we learnt? And | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
one Southeast Asian city claims the ranks to number one when it comes to | :00:24. | :00:35. | |
having the best quality of living. Hello, and welcome to Asia Business | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
Report, the National People's Congress in Beijing has come to a | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
close. Delegates from across China pledged to implement the use of | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
technology to strengthen the military. Well, the 10-day session | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
had kicked off with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announcing slower growth | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
this year compared with last year's 6.7% expansion. I spoke with our | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
correspondent in Beijing and asked for some of the highlights from this | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
year's National People's Congress. I think the headline news is the | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
government is targeting lower growth this year than last year. In actual | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
fact, sentiment in Beijing is relatively up heat on the economy at | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
the moment so 6.5% growth for this year as a whole -- upbeat. We are | :01:19. | :01:25. | |
seeing a bit of a recovery in the industrial manufacturing sector | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
here. So the mood and sentiment is relatively upbeat despite the | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
lowering of the headline growth target. You say it is upbeat, | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
nonetheless that lower growth target to 6.5%, it is still the lowest in | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
more than 25 years, so how might that impact a lot of China's | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
neighbours which rely on it as an engine of growth? I think china's | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
neighbours will welcome slower growth, China is going to make | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
progress on structural reform in tackling some of the imbalances in | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
its economy. This is the key to sustainable long-term growth in | :02:00. | :02:01. | |
China and that should be something which its neighbours, with China a | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
significant export market, should welcome. Slower growth doesn't mean | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
necessarily a bad thing for the global economy if it means China | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
will be a more stable footing in the years to come, that will be a | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
positive. We heard from Premier Li Keqiang at the National People's | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
Congress essentially reiterating a lot of pledges we have heard before, | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
the need to tackle large data and enterprises, zombie companies | :02:26. | :02:27. | |
producing too much coal and steel, the need to tackle pollution. As I | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
mentioned, we have heard this before and they have proven hard to fulfil. | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
How effective is the National People's Congress really? I think | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
they are moving a little bit too late on both the issue of tackling | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
zombie companies and tackling air-pollution, but last year they | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
move more aggressively than they have before on both those areas. In | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
terms of implementation, there is still a lot to be desired. We think | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
capacity cuts this year will be difficult, because they haven't | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
really reformed the state-owned sector, which is potentially more | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
difficult than the cuts in the private sector last year. And we are | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
also hearing a lot more protectionist language from the new | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
Trump administration, especially in the US. Were there any clues from | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
the National People's Congress on how China might deal with trade | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
tensions with the US? Well, I think in one sense China sees this as an | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
opportunity for itself to assume some of the global leadership roles | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
in globalisation, although its own record in terms of opening its own | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
economy leaves much to be desired. I think that Trump and Xi Jinping are | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
going to meet next month in the US, which is a positive sign and suggest | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
those trade tensions might not spill over to the extent of having | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
significant implications for both the US, Chinese and global economies | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
in the future. So if they are meeting, it probably suggest there | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
is room for compromise on some of the issues which divided them. That | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
is Tom Rafferty speaking to me earlier. It is the news that | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
investors have been waiting for. The US Federal Reserve is expected to | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
announce an interest rate increase at the world's largest economy, | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
gaining momentum. It comes as many await more concrete details about | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
Donald Trump's economic policies. So what does a rate hike mean for the | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
average American worker? Our correspondent reports from New York. | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
An increasingly common sight in America today. Machines making | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
everything from factory robots to aircraft landing gear. After a | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
painfully slow recovery, the sights and sounds of economic activity. | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
Nearly everyone who wants a job in the US has one. It has been getting | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
better for us since 2008, 2009. That was the worst I have seen in my | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
working life. I have seen more jobs coming back to the United States. | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
This shop in Brooklyn they make metal parts, mainly for the aviation | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
industry. Like many factories across the US, there is lots going on in | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
room to grow. Were fortunate we have a steady flow of business. Now and | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
for the foreseeable future, we have a steady flow of business. Activity | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
that hasn't gone unnoticed by this woman. Fed chair Janet Yellen is | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
among those making the case that the world's largest economy is strong | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
enough to withstand higher interest rates, making the prospect of a rate | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
hike in March a near certainty. The economy is clearly ready for another | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
rate hike, inflation is moving towards the Fed's inflation target | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
of 2%. The job market is in very good shape, and financial market | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
conditions have eased. Back at the tool shop, this man sees the | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
prospect of a higher rate as a vote of confidence in the economy. | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
Probably is a good time to raise interest rates, although I don't | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
want to pay more interest. And a few miles away on what will your Mac | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
Wall Street, investors are prepared, even looking ahead, wondering about | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
the pace of future hikes -- on Wall Street. If the Federal Reserve | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
raises interest rates this will be only the third time it has done so | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
since the global financial crisis. Almost a decade later, it would send | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
a signal that the US economy is returning to some kind of normality. | :06:16. | :06:23. | |
In other business news, Toshiba shares are down by more than 7% in | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
Tokyo this morning. The Tokyo stock exchange has placed the shares under | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
supervision for a possible delisting. On Tuesday, Toshiba said | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
it may sell its majority stake in the US nuclear unit Westinghouse. | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
The Japanese firm bought Westinghouse in 2006 but it has been | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
suffering huge cost overruns. Toshiba has been granted permission | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
to delay reporting its earnings second time, until 11 April, and is | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
expected to announce a write-down of about $6 billion for the struggling | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
nuclear business. Now, the list is in the cities with the best quality | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
of living, and the worst. Vienna in Austria ranked number one in the | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
world, according to consultancy farm Mercer, Auckland, Sydney, Wellington | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
and Melbourne remain in the top 20 however in Asia, Singapore ranked | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
the highest, moving up one place, in fact, since last year, for its | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
business opportunities as well as it in the structure. It is followed by | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
several Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Yokohama and Kobe. Hong Kong | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
moved down one spot but it is still the highest of all its neighbouring | :07:38. | :07:40. | |
cities, including Taipei, Shanghai and Beijing. I asked a correspondent | :07:41. | :07:49. | |
from Mercer consulting firm what factors they consider in their | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
ranking system. There are clear focus is on air pollution. There is | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
focus on traffic congestion. There is focus on freedom of speech, there | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
is focus on economic environment, including access to currency | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
exchange rates. And all of those factors relatively have kind of push | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
down the Chinese cities to a lower ranking. You have got the likes of | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Auckland at number three. It has out ranked Singapore for the | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
Asia-Pacific region, but if you think about multinationals who you | :08:21. | :08:23. | |
are aiming this study at, don't you think that Auckland perhaps might be | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
seen to be too far away to set up a big business, or a regional company? | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
I think you need to differentiate between quality of living bursars, | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
you know, what might make sense for a multinational from a regional hub | :08:39. | :08:45. | |
perspective -- versus. Access to raw materials, access to clients, | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
availability of different kinds of talent, all might have a bearing on | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
where you want to set up. Let's take a look at the cities at the bottom. | :08:56. | :09:02. | |
For this part of the world, Baghdad and Dhaka it near the bottom, what | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
is it about these cities? Safety and security has a clear bearing, and | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
clearly Baghdad, Dhaka, and some of the other cities which are ranked | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
much lower, have clearly been impacted by the safety and security | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
issue, of a safe environment. Plus, there are additional factors. As I | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
said, there are 39 different factors. Air pollution, traffic | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
conditions, economic stability, access to international flights, all | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
of those have kind of played a part in some of those cities being scored | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
lower. All right, but in terms of infrastructure, this is the first | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
year you have put out a list which assesses the best infrastructure, | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
Singapore tops are but we know that there are many other Asian cities | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
with equally good infrastructure. What is it about Singapore | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
specifically? I am very proud to say that Singapore is ranked number one | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
worldwide in city infrastructure rankings we came out with. In the | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
way they are measured are around uninterrupted electricity supply, | :10:05. | :10:06. | |
water availability, integrated public transportation system, and, | :10:07. | :10:14. | |
you know, traffic conditions, access to international airports all | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
flights. Singapore clearly scored a much higher ranking in lots of | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
those. Let's take a quick look at the market before we go, because | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
there is a lot of caution setting and in the markets. That is why they | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
are all lower. A lot of investors sidelined ahead of those meetings, | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
the Fed reserve, the Bank of England and the bank of Japan. That is it | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
for the show, thank you for | :10:38. | :10:38. |