:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:28.On the upward trend. Japan charts another quarterly growth for the
:00:29. > :00:33.sixth time in a row. Is Abenomics finally working? And a tale of two
:00:34. > :00:36.economies. We focus on India and Pakistan as they mark 70 years of
:00:37. > :00:44.independence from the British Empire. Welcome to Asia Business
:00:45. > :00:48.Report. Live from Singapore. Let's kick off with what is on the
:00:49. > :00:53.business calendar this week. Japan just released its latest economic
:00:54. > :00:59.data. The world's third biggest economy expanded at an annualised
:01:00. > :01:03.rate of 4% between April and June. That is the sixth straight quarter
:01:04. > :01:08.of growth, driven partly by private consumption. Mid week, the bank of
:01:09. > :01:12.Thailand will be deciding on the cost of borrowing and later in the
:01:13. > :01:20.week, on Thursday, a lot of focus will be on Alibaba as it releases
:01:21. > :01:24.second-quarter earnings. Earlier I spoke to a representative from the
:01:25. > :01:27.bank of Singapore and asked about the Japanese economy and whether
:01:28. > :01:31.Abenomics is working through the system. It looks like growth will be
:01:32. > :01:35.between 2% and 3%, which is where Europe has been in the second
:01:36. > :01:39.quarter. So they seem to be doing quite well at the start of 2017,
:01:40. > :01:43.yes. There have been lots of talks about whether Abenomics has failed,
:01:44. > :01:48.but from all the data we are getting, is it actually succeeding,
:01:49. > :01:52.in your view? I think from the growth numbers it is succeeding.
:01:53. > :01:55.Labour markets are the best they have been in decades, so from that
:01:56. > :02:00.perspective Abenomics has worked. Where it has worked as on the
:02:01. > :02:04.structural side, raising the long-term growth rate, improving the
:02:05. > :02:07.operational behaviour of companies, improving governance significantly.
:02:08. > :02:11.So they have done well to stimulate growth and get things back to
:02:12. > :02:14.normal. They haven't done much to change what normal represents, and
:02:15. > :02:18.that has been the failure of Abenomics. What has been rattling
:02:19. > :02:21.the region over the last few weeks has been growing tensions between
:02:22. > :02:26.North Korea and the United states. We are starting to see a rush to
:02:27. > :02:32.safe haven, in your view? Certainly some safe haven flows. Gold is doing
:02:33. > :02:39.well, the Swiss franc, and rather strangely the Japanese currency went
:02:40. > :02:44.well as well, which is strange as it is on the flight path and has a long
:02:45. > :02:50.history of tension with North Korea. There is a bit of a bump, but
:02:51. > :02:53.nothing to severe. And of course, China plays a significant role in
:02:54. > :02:59.these growing tensions. There have been talks of President Trump
:03:00. > :03:03.possibly signing executive orders restricting intellectual property.
:03:04. > :03:08.What is your view on that? I think it is a real difficulty because when
:03:09. > :03:11.you have a transactional approach to policy, there is no predict ability
:03:12. > :03:15.or framework they are operating in. It is one of those things, if you
:03:16. > :03:19.help us here we will help you there, so you can't see what they will try
:03:20. > :03:22.to achieve. Obviously they have multiple goals but they are not
:03:23. > :03:25.necessarily compatible. At the moment it looks like he wants to
:03:26. > :03:29.bully china on trade with the hope they will help with North Korea.
:03:30. > :03:32.That doesn't seem like a very realistic ambition to anyone in the
:03:33. > :03:37.region. And briefly, before we let you go, we have significant figures
:03:38. > :03:42.from the Chinese economy as well. What are you predicting? Industrial
:03:43. > :03:46.production is tipped to grow about 7%. It has picked up in the last six
:03:47. > :03:50.months or so. People are worried about slowdown in China, it is a
:03:51. > :03:53.perpetual concern. So far the economy is doing fairly well heading
:03:54. > :03:57.into big vertical events later in the year. In other business news,
:03:58. > :04:01.the chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia says
:04:02. > :04:05.he will retire in the wake of a scandal over allegations of money
:04:06. > :04:09.laundering and terror financing allegations. He has been the head of
:04:10. > :04:14.Australia's biggest bank since 2011 but recently it has been embroiled
:04:15. > :04:17.in civil charges stemming from alleged breaches of financing rules
:04:18. > :04:22.which wiped out the lives of dollars from its market capitalisation. He
:04:23. > :04:28.is expected to step down in June 20 18. The price of Bitcoin has broken
:04:29. > :04:33.past the $4000 mark for the first time in its nine-year history. The
:04:34. > :04:38.value of the digital currency has more than quadrupled so far this
:04:39. > :04:44.year. Joining me here in my studio is the BBC's business reporter. Yet
:04:45. > :04:49.another record, but it has been rather volatile. That's right,
:04:50. > :04:52.crypto currencies like Bitcoin have been on a rollercoaster ride, and
:04:53. > :04:56.that is largely because it remains an unregulated market. So unlike
:04:57. > :05:01.other currencies there is no central bank that controls though
:05:02. > :05:06.currencies. They are also traded electronically, 24 hours a day and
:05:07. > :05:10.seven days a week. With Bitcoin, the oldest and most valuable crypto
:05:11. > :05:14.currency, we saw prices past $4000 on Sunday morning, he began a market
:05:15. > :05:18.capitalisation of more than $60 billion. That is really large, more
:05:19. > :05:21.than triple the price of gold. So now some people are questioning
:05:22. > :05:27.whether crypto currencies like Bitcoin exist in a bubble, because
:05:28. > :05:31.some claim that these currencies basically have no fundamentals, and
:05:32. > :05:36.that they are being driven by people looking to make a quick buck. Thank
:05:37. > :05:39.you for the update. We will continue to monitor the price. Back to Japan
:05:40. > :05:44.and its rigid education system, where children are taught to follow
:05:45. > :05:48.rules and strive for perfection. It is often blamed for the lack of
:05:49. > :05:53.entrepreneurship in the country, but what if you drop out of the school
:05:54. > :05:59.system? As part of our Jumpstarting Japan series, I caught up with a man
:06:00. > :06:10.to find out how he found his own success. Meet the brainchild of Ken,
:06:11. > :06:15.and his avatar. Ken created this avatar to address the loneliness he
:06:16. > :06:19.felt as a child. TRANSLATION: For 3.5 years, from when I was ten, I
:06:20. > :06:27.couldn't go to school because of illness. I felt so unbearably
:06:28. > :06:30.lonely. I started to wonder if they had a healthy clone, could he make
:06:31. > :06:34.good memories at school instead of me. That was the beginning of
:06:35. > :06:39.wanting to create my own avatar. In a country which allows no room for
:06:40. > :06:43.failure, even as a child, Kentaro could have been easily left out of
:06:44. > :06:48.the system, but his teacher introduced. The idea is the robot
:06:49. > :07:03.can be at places where its users cannot be.
:07:04. > :07:11.So there are 120 units that have been rented out across Japan, and
:07:12. > :07:21.they are thinking of exporting it as well. And his robot is helping those
:07:22. > :07:27.with motor neurone diseases like ALS. This 30-year-old is learning
:07:28. > :07:31.how to use it so he can continue participating in society.
:07:32. > :07:38.TRANSLATION: I learn that even when I use all my muscles my eyeballs
:07:39. > :07:41.will be able to move -- when I lose. So I want to prepare myself by
:07:42. > :07:45.learning different tools to communicate. Kentaro 's innovation
:07:46. > :07:49.has given bedbound people the power to be part of the workforce, and it
:07:50. > :07:55.can be used by the elderly, or mothers with small children. From an
:07:56. > :08:00.awkward child, Kentaro has regained his confidence and found his own
:08:01. > :08:06.success. As we told you want Newsday, 70 years ago Britain pulled
:08:07. > :08:09.out of India, marking the end of empire on the subcontinent. So what
:08:10. > :08:14.has become of the economies of Pakistan and India? How do they
:08:15. > :08:18.differ and how much do they rely on each other? Our correspondent
:08:19. > :08:23.reports. Since partition, India and Pakistan have charted very different
:08:24. > :08:27.economic parts. India's economy was bigger than Pakistan's right from
:08:28. > :08:31.the start, because of the size of its population and the fact that it
:08:32. > :08:35.inherited financial and government institutions. Today, India's economy
:08:36. > :08:41.is almost eight times bigger than its neighbours. But what is
:08:42. > :08:44.interesting is during the first 50 years both nations saw similar
:08:45. > :08:48.economic growth. In fact, the average income per person in
:08:49. > :08:54.Pakistan was higher than India during this period. But, since the
:08:55. > :08:57.start of the 21st century, India's economy started to grow faster,
:08:58. > :09:04.widening the gap. This is largely down to the economic reforms in
:09:05. > :09:07.India in the 1990s when it opened up its markets for foreign and private
:09:08. > :09:12.investments. Today, India and Pakistan are the largest economies
:09:13. > :09:18.in East Asia, but they don't trade with each other much. Their trade is
:09:19. > :09:22.less than what they trade with smaller neighbours like Bangladesh,
:09:23. > :09:26.Sri Lanka and Nepal. Part of the reason is what Pakistan calls its
:09:27. > :09:30.negative list, which bans the import of more than 1200 goods from India.
:09:31. > :09:37.These goods range from toothbrushes and diapers to cars and even cricket
:09:38. > :09:44.bats. India also levies taxes on goods imported from Pakistan. That
:09:45. > :09:49.said, informal trade between the two countries is thriving, and it is
:09:50. > :09:53.estimated to be close to $5 billion. That involves shipping goods to a
:09:54. > :10:03.third country. Traders both in India and Pakistan used to buy two get
:10:04. > :10:08.goods to each other -- use to buy. -- Duabai. The total trade between
:10:09. > :10:12.the two countries could touch $10 billion every year. Checking the
:10:13. > :10:17.markets, despite the fairly solid GDP figures, the Japanese Nikkei is
:10:18. > :10:21.down because of the strong yen, which is seen as a safe haven
:10:22. > :10:29.currency as tensions grow between the United States and North Korea.
:10:30. > :10:33.Australia is also down by almost 1%. That is it for this edition of Asia
:10:34. > :10:34.Business Report. Thank you for