02/11/2017 Asia Business Report

rates steady after a key decision at

the US Central Bank. Social media

giants return to Capitol Hill for

more questions over the involvement

of Russia in the US presidential

election. Good morning, Asia. Hello,

world. Welcome to another edition of

Asia Business Report. I am Rico

Hizon. It's a Thursday. Thank you

for joining me. We start off with

the Federal Reserve and the Central

Bank decided to keep the cost of

borrowing unchanged following a

two-day meaning. They cited solid

labour market positions. But it is

not the decision everyone is

focusing on it. Later today, US

President Donald Trump is expected

to announce his nominee for the Fed

Share before departing on a long

trip to Asia. For more on who the

choice could be, we are joined by

our business reporter. Well, this

could be the last few months for

Janet Yellen as Fed Chair.

People

are saying the cat is out of the

bag. Multiple media reports say

Donald Trump will nominate Gerome

Powell, meaning the four-year term

of Janet Yellen will end next

January. In her time as the Fed

Chair, she has seen low inflation

and robust growth. That is why we

have seen the economy turn a corner.

Are expected to go up again in

December. In fact, the Federal Fund

Futures are pricing that in that

98%. Markets expect rises in 2008

in, but that could change under Mr

Powell.

Who is he?

A lawyer used to

be at the Carlisle Group. He is

expected to maintain continuity. He

is in favour of a low interest-rate

environment and may continue with

the of Janet Yellen, gradually

increasing costs. It is interesting

that he seems to be a supporter of

deregulation. The White House does

not want so many rules for

businesses. He may support the White

House. What is more interesting, he

will be the first Fed Chair since

Walker if nominated to not have a

PHD in economics.

His name has been

floated around in the past few

weeks. What has been the reaction?

He was considered the front-runner

for a number of weeks, as you said.

Betting websites have priced in

expectation of him being nominated.

We saw some gains in the US and

Asian trading market.

Thank you.

Social media has been grilled by

policy makers. They were taken to

task over why they did not identify

and address the meddling of Russia

in the US presidential race by

posting fake advertisements and

stories. The three firms have an

interest in having it corrected

without additional regulation.

Earlier, I asked if they were

successful in their mission.

I am

not sure if they were successful.

Much of the mission was to roofs to

the senators they could handle this

situation alone and could use their

own technology to get rid of these

advertisements and organic content

shared naturally. -- prove to. I

don't think the panels were

convinced these companies could do

that. On the flipside, I am not sure

the panel had much of an idea of

what particular regulations would be

helpful to solve the problem. One

particular senator, John Kennedy, he

said he did not think it was

possible to monitor all of the

content coming through Facebook, and

so the problem may not ever be sold

at all. A huge problem for Facebook.

One thing that stood out for me was

what came from the California

senator who is supportive of Silicon

Valley companies and growing them.

Today she said they just did not get

it and this was the beginning of

cyber warfare. Two very long and

very tough days for the social media

companies.

Despite this cyber

warfare, this controversy has not

had an impact on Facebook's

profitability. It posted better than

expected quarterly numbers. Do you

expect this will continue?

Yes. The

latest numbers once again beating

analyst expectations. They set high

expectations as well anyway. Beating

them is quite something. $10.3

billion of revenue in the last

quarter, up 49% on last year. Doing

well. It comes with a warning which

I will read. Mark Zuckerberg said

profitability will be hit by

employing more security staff. He

said we are investing in so much

security that it will impact on

profitability. By protecting

security is more important than

maximising profits. -- but. The

pressure surrounding the current

crisis, fake news and Russian

influence, it could have an effect

on their bottom line next year.

From

Washington, DC. $23 trillion, that

is what the Paris committee has done

to fight climate change. They said

they could reach almost $3.5

trillion by 2025. Which green

sectors can investors find the best

return on money? I earlier spoke to

a Singapore manager for IFC.

We

looked at several sectors for

attractive investment. Renewable

energy, food solar energy, and

battery storage. Urban transport as

well, water, and urban waste

management. We think Asia should be

at the forefront of this, in terms

of total demand and technology

innovation.

What is the interest of

the private sector in those seven

sectors?

They are good investment

opportunities. Look at last year,

taking Asia, for example. Look at

China and India to be they account

for half of the global energy

capacity. China alone put into the

five gigawatts of solar, 34

gigawatts of wind. -- 35. That was

one third of global investment.

Since coming to power, India's Prime

Minister has been trying to attract

businesses from around the world to

set up shop. Narendra Modi now has a

reason to celebrate. A bank report

says it is much easier to do

business there. They have jumped 30

places in the annual survey looking

at how easy it is to do business. We

have more from Delhi. Make in India,

a message from Narendra Modi and one

that is important to his economic

policy. Launched in 2014, the

government promised to make doing

business easier and to transform

India into a global many factoring

hub. Three years on, it seems it is

finally paying off.

India should be

a place where a person decides to do

business. The time gap between his

decision and the actual start of the

business should be very narrow. I

think every detail which is coming

out seems to be in the more positive

zone.

The World Bank agrees. In its

annual ease of doing business

report, India has jumped 30 places.

It scored highly on paying taxes,

access to credit, and resolving debt

problems. So, some aspects have

improved. It takes about 30 days for

new businesses to register compared

to 127 days 15 years ago. But it is

a long road ahead. In fact, it is

getting more difficult for

businesses to navigate aspects of

starting a business like registering

a property and enforcing contracts.

Like many smaller companies, this

nursery is struggling with goods and

services tax. It overhauled the way

businesses pay taxes, but has caused

major disruption is since it was

introduced. And although it is

expected to improve India's

standing, it was not considered in

this year's report.

Especially

filling the form. It is quite

complicated and many documents are

required, many pages to be filled.

If it can be simpler, we could do it

ourselves.

This woman is now looking

to expand her business. That will

involve attracting funding from

abroad. Business owners will be

hoping the investors will be

encouraged by improvements in the

business climate rather than the

drawbacks. BBC News, Delhi. A quick

look at the markets. Asian stocks

are flat to higher. South Korea and

Japan up slightly. All ords gaining

57. Have a wonderful Thursday,

everyone.