:00:00. > :00:17.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:18. > :00:23.China paints a green path for electric car technology, is the rest
:00:24. > :00:27.of the world willing to follow? And women in India are fighting a taxing
:00:28. > :00:35.battle when it comes to personal hygiene products.
:00:36. > :00:42.Hello, Asia. Good morning, world! Glad you could join us for this
:00:43. > :00:46.edition of Asia Business Report, I'm Rico Hizon. China has a growing
:00:47. > :00:51.appetite for electric cars, sales there overtook the US last year and
:00:52. > :00:55.the world's biggest car manufacturers are paying attention.
:00:56. > :00:59.Of all though, owned by a Chinese company, announced last week it will
:01:00. > :01:05.only make fully electric or hybrid vehicles by 2019 -- Volvo. Tesla is
:01:06. > :01:10.close to locking in a deal to open its first factory on the mainland.
:01:11. > :01:11.Automotive analyst Bill Russo believes all carmakers will follow
:01:12. > :01:20.suit in the not too distant future. It's been a good run. It's been 130
:01:21. > :01:24.years since the invention of the internal combustion engine and the
:01:25. > :01:29.use of the automotive industry and we are about to see more change in
:01:30. > :01:34.the next decade than we've seen in the last 100 years and the
:01:35. > :01:40.announcements of the past week in particular of Volvo putting in
:01:41. > :01:45.electric motors in all their vehicles by 2019, dimer partnering
:01:46. > :01:50.with Beijing auto, Tesla launching the model three and exploring
:01:51. > :01:54.opportunities to localise in China, I think you've already seen the
:01:55. > :01:58.automotive industry recognising China is the market that will scale
:01:59. > :02:03.up and become the largest electric vehicle market in the world and you
:02:04. > :02:07.will see both multinational and local companies participating. The
:02:08. > :02:14.trend is growing in the butt will workers on assembly lines in Asia
:02:15. > :02:21.who make fuel vehicles be displaced because of the technology needed to
:02:22. > :02:26.make electric cars? The repowering of transportation and the re-
:02:27. > :02:31.parroting of automobiles will come along with a reconfiguration of
:02:32. > :02:35.production and supply chains. People's skills may need to be
:02:36. > :02:41.adapted to that new reality but we're already talking about both
:02:42. > :02:47.local and multinational brands embracing both policies as well as
:02:48. > :02:52.the up of production. Battery supply chains along with the manufacturing
:02:53. > :02:56.footprint, I think what we're about to see in the next few years is
:02:57. > :03:02.China becoming the principal manufacturing and production
:03:03. > :03:06.location for electric vehicles in the world. Has long founder Elon
:03:07. > :03:13.Musk has tweeted the first picture of their new Model three vehicle
:03:14. > :03:19.after it came off the assembly line. It is Tesla's first mass-market car
:03:20. > :03:24.and it will cost around 35,000 US dollars, almost half the price of
:03:25. > :03:31.Tesla's next cheapest model. In other business news, China's Costco
:03:32. > :03:36.is buying rival container shipping company for 6.3 billion US dollars
:03:37. > :03:40.in cash. The takeover will create a strong Asian competitor to the P2
:03:41. > :03:47.alliance of Denmark's Maersk line and ... They operate two of the
:03:48. > :03:53.world's largest container fleet is. The opposition candidate is now
:03:54. > :03:58.Mongolia's president after a contentious run-off election. The
:03:59. > :04:02.businessmen and martial artist ran on a populist platform promising
:04:03. > :04:08.government help for students in an aggressive stance towards China. He
:04:09. > :04:10.inherits a lagging economy suffering from lower commodity prices,
:04:11. > :04:16.especially on its main export, copper. It's taken a decade but it
:04:17. > :04:22.looks like ice land has recovered from its banking turmoil. Ratings
:04:23. > :04:27.agency Fitch has upgraded their sovereign rating and outlook
:04:28. > :04:31.following robust economic growth. They also recently lifted capital
:04:32. > :04:38.controls put in place after three of its biggest banks employed in 2008.
:04:39. > :04:42.Let's now turn our attention to a few things investors are on the
:04:43. > :04:45.lookout for this week. Later this morning China will update its
:04:46. > :04:50.inflation data for the month of June, which will give us more clues
:04:51. > :04:53.about its economic health. On Tuesday Pep see reports
:04:54. > :04:58.second-quarter earnings and the big question is, are the consumers
:04:59. > :05:03.losing their appetite fizzy drinks? More people are battling obesity.
:05:04. > :05:07.Malaysia and South Korean central banks will announce interest rate
:05:08. > :05:11.decisions mid week. Earlier I spoke with an economist who told us what
:05:12. > :05:16.we can expect. It will indicate the Chinese economy
:05:17. > :05:19.has stabilised in the first half of last year, it decelerated quite
:05:20. > :05:23.significantly and there was a substantial boost to credit and
:05:24. > :05:26.social financing in the second half of the year and into early this
:05:27. > :05:32.year, which helped stabilise the economy. Growth is just below 7%,
:05:33. > :05:37.exactly where China wants it. There is still this massive problem of bad
:05:38. > :05:42.debts, why isn't this impacting investor sentiment? It's a
:05:43. > :05:46.background issue of great concern to investors, China has had the biggest
:05:47. > :05:51.expansion over the last eight years, it has gone from $6.5 trillion to
:05:52. > :05:55.$24 trillion, a massive increase and that has resulted in big debts for
:05:56. > :06:00.the corporate sector, households, and it is a matter of growing
:06:01. > :06:05.concern. Apart from Chinese economic data you have US reports on retail
:06:06. > :06:10.sales, consumer prices and industrial production. For Asian
:06:11. > :06:15.investors, what's more important? China numbers? US data? Both are
:06:16. > :06:19.equally important. China is especially important because it's
:06:20. > :06:23.the single largest market for most Asian economies. In terms of
:06:24. > :06:28.exports. China's import growth this year has been very good, if that
:06:29. > :06:33.persists, 14 or 15% year-on-year growth in Chinese imports, that will
:06:34. > :06:40.help the rest of Asia seat in continued strength so that is
:06:41. > :06:47.important. -- C. What is good about the US is that payrolls over the
:06:48. > :06:52.weekend were very strong. The US economy is in fine fettle at the
:06:53. > :06:56.moment and that helps the world. Does this mean we could see an
:06:57. > :07:01.interest rate hike from the Fed, a third one, before the end of the
:07:02. > :07:06.year? Could this impact the monetary decisions of both South Korea and
:07:07. > :07:10.Malaysia? The Fed will hike later this year further, maybe once or
:07:11. > :07:14.perhaps more, because the economy is in fine health, despite the fact
:07:15. > :07:20.that disinflation has continued to occur, the labour market is in good
:07:21. > :07:24.shape and so the US will hike rates. In Malaysia, inflation was much
:07:25. > :07:28.higher in the last few months, it has moderated in the last month, so
:07:29. > :07:33.there's no real need for Malaysia to hike rates. If it had to it should
:07:34. > :07:38.have done it two months ago but it didn't, so there's no real need.
:07:39. > :07:41.Inflation is very tame in Korea and there's no need to hike rates there
:07:42. > :07:49.either. In India, a campaign against the new
:07:50. > :07:53.goods and services tax on feminine hygiene products is gathering steam.
:07:54. > :07:57.Critics say the government should have weighed the tax, especially
:07:58. > :07:59.since few women use these products in the first place because of social
:08:00. > :08:10.stigma -- waved. Should female sanitary products be
:08:11. > :08:14.taxed? It said topic hotly debated around the world and know the
:08:15. > :08:23.so-called tampon tax row has come to India. -- now. Campaigners here are
:08:24. > :08:28.calling in the blood tax. -- calling it. They say a new goods and
:08:29. > :08:32.services tax that just came into effect was an opportunity to make
:08:33. > :08:37.feminine products tax-free in India and so more affordable. Only 12% of
:08:38. > :08:43.women use menstrual hygiene products, the rest of the population
:08:44. > :08:50.use cloth, but sadly they don't just use that, they use sand, husk, dried
:08:51. > :08:56.leaves, plastic. Access to hygienic feminine products is a problem and
:08:57. > :09:00.cost is a big issue. As a result tens of thousands of girls drop out
:09:01. > :09:06.of school every year when they start their periods. Now, in a seemingly
:09:07. > :09:12.women friendly move the government has made these products, which a lot
:09:13. > :09:16.of Indian women apply on their forehead, tax-free, but they believe
:09:17. > :09:22.these are considered essential products for women, then so should
:09:23. > :09:27.sanitary pads. They are being taxed at 12% instead, a decision the
:09:28. > :09:32.government defends. TRANSLATION: If we reduce the tax on sanitary pads
:09:33. > :09:38.it shouldn't be the multinational companies don't pass it on to
:09:39. > :09:42.customers and make profits, these big companies have huge profit
:09:43. > :09:47.margins and so to make sanitary pads more affordable this should be the
:09:48. > :09:52.step forward. The government says cheaper sanitary pads made by small
:09:53. > :09:56.cooperatives will be taxed. For campaigners, it's not about who
:09:57. > :09:58.makes the products, but that the state treats them as a luxury rather
:09:59. > :10:07.than a necessity. Before we go, let's have a look at
:10:08. > :10:12.the Asian stock markets and currently it is mixed, the Nikkei
:10:13. > :10:17.225 up by 114 points due to the weaker yen against the US dollar,
:10:18. > :10:23.benefiting the export sector. The All Ordinaries down by 31 points due
:10:24. > :10:24.to a fall in oil prices. Chinese economic data will dictate the mood
:10:25. > :10:32.of the markets this week as well. Much for investing your time with
:10:33. > :10:38.us. I'm Rico Hizon, Sport Today is up next. -- thank you so much.
:10:39. > :10:43.Iraq's Prime Minister says Mosul has been liberated from the group
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