10/03/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Maryam Moshiri and Sally

This is Business Live from BBC News with Maryam Moshiri and Sally

More stimulus is expected today from the European Central Bank -

Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday the 10th of March.

All eyes are on Mario Draghi - will the man dubbed super Mario be

able to bring sustained growth - or is Europe's central bank

High rise, high cost - we'll find out why Singapore

And the markets look like this right now as investors await Mr Draghi's

And flexible working - we'll be talking to one company

which is benefiting from the rise in professionals working from home.

And you've just heard that Singapore is the world's most expensive city -

Today we want to know......What do you think makes a city expensive?

All eyes are on the European Central Bank in Frankfurt to see if the man

dubbed super Mario can deliver a recipe to bring sustained

In just a few hours we'll find out Mario Draghi's plans to deal

with dangerously low inflation, and slugglish growth.

Let's take a look at the situation as it stands.

growth in December, central bank lowered its interest rate further

into negative territory - to minus 0.3 percent.

It's expected to be cut further todayOver the past year the bank has

also spent more than 700 billion euros -

that's 60 billion a month - buying government bonds and assets,

in an effort to tackle low inflation.

Last month prices actually fell, bringing deflation back

And in the last three months of 2015 - the region's economy barely grew

Many experts doubt whether further stimulus will work.

That includes the man who's known as the father of the Euro -

former ECB board member Otmar Issing.

Professor Lorenzo Codogno from the European Institute

What are you expecting to happen today? There are three possible

options. The ECB could do much of the same, so to speak. The same

tools that have been used so far, increasing the size of the monthly

purchase, according to the asset purchase programme. They could

extend the length of the programme, so

basically, extended by six months, and I think this is already

discounted by financial markets. Kind of policy tools that have been

used so far can be expanding. And in terms of the depositary, they can

introduce a two tier system that would reduce the costs of the banks.

We are still within the traditional tool. Then, I think the market would

want to see something more, and it is reasonable to expect something

more from the ECB. There are two options.

Improve the transmission of monitoring policies, and

on the access and the liability side, or broaden the scope of the

programme, throughout the whole of the economy.

We might see a mix of both things. In your opinion,

how effective is this all, but if they did not do any

other stimulants, where would we be now?

don't have the counterfactual. We don't know what would have

happened without the action by the ECB.

ECB has been effective in stopping a more disastrous scenario. Has it

been affected to turn expectations been affected to turn expectations

in terms of have had Germany slightly against

that? lowering the depositary even more,

so if, Honda may be preparing to compensate

dealers in the US over the massive recall linked to potentially faulty

airbags - this according to the industry magazine Automotive

News. In January Honda ordered a halt

of 1.7 million vehicles sales The latest inflation data out

of China shows that consumer prices have risen at the fastest rate

since the middle of 2014. The CPI index rose by 2.3

percent in February, with food price inflation

coming in at 7.3 percent. Last month, Lunar New Year

celebrations took place across much of Asia, with food retailers

hiking prices in response Let's take a look at some of the

stories. It is a retail sector that is in

focus, and the supermarket chain has announced declining profits for a

fourth year in a row. of the high street supermarkets in

the UK. To take a look at our website as when you

Singapore has again been judged as the world's most expensive city

Leisha Chi is in there and can tell us more.

Singapore has been ranked the most expensive city. Here, we

don't have very extravagant lifestyles! The biggest reason why

it keeps topping the ranking is the cost of

buying and owning a car here. We don't only pay to import the

vehicle, there is a feat to have the privilege of

owning -- owning it. The cost of that, you could buy a house

somewhere else. Transport costs are nearly three times higher than New

York, which is the base city in the survey. It is worth noting -- it is

worth noting the expatriates, and they packed into the calculation is.

Expats would tapped to pay for international schools. They would

pay for condos as opposed to government housing. That is worth

keeping in mind. Another thing worth noting from the survey is that

Chinese cities are also worth -- rocketing up the rankings.

Asian stocks closed higher this Thursday.

Expectations are high too ahead of the ECB meeting later.

We also had some better than expected Chinese inflation

In Europe the markets are open and it's all

about the European Central Bank today - with the prospect of more

monetary stimulus measures whetting investors' appetite.

And Michelle Fleury has the details about what's ahead

Investors here in the US will be keeping a close eye on the European

Central Bank monetary policy meeting. No change is expected here,

when the Federal reserve holds its policy meeting next week. In

Washington, President Obama has a visit from Justin Trudeau. Both US

and Canada are hoping to rebuild ties which deteriorated under his

predecessor. The head of VW's operations in the US, Michael Horn,

is leaving. In a statement, the German said on Wednesday that Mr

Hall leaving immediately. From the early days, Michael Horn was

instrumental in dealing with the response to the emissions scandal.

Joining us is Jane Sydenham, Investment Director

Michelle talking about it, we are all talking about it. In Asia, we

were talking about it. He ECB, if were talking about it. He ECB, if

they don't do anything, it is going to be interesting for markets expect

it will be disappointing, and it is a very difficult start the year,

with Chinese slowdown worries about that. So the markets would

definitely appreciate a confidence boost. If we don't get it, yes.

Having been through this year, it was not that long ago that the

German finance minister was saying that Deutsche Bank is OK. That was

this year. This is all the pressure on the ECB. A lot of what is going

on in China is adding to the deflationary fear. Could China

devalue its currency which would export deflation to the rest of the

world, and put more pressure on Europe? There is much to worry

about. Will the markets be happy whatever he does? It just seems that

whatever the ECB does do, it does not seem to be enough. I think that

is true to some extent, but suddenly having that stimulus, giving -- cone

that what Lorenzo was saying, we don't know what would have happened,

but we can be reasonably confident that we would not be much worse, and

that undoubtedly helps confidence to some extent. To what extent do other

central bankers... And the central bank in Japan, what do you think

about it diverging? It is important is Palis, the world is very

interconnected. Has anyone major trading bloc Unter particular

pressure undermines everyone else. It is important that they do

coordinate. Jane will return. We coordinate. Jane will return. We

happen to board to discuss, And flexible working -

we'll be talking to one company which is benefiting from rise

in professionals working from home. You're with Business Live from BBC

News. The Competition and Markets

Authority has announced plans this morning to fix the energy

market which is dominated Despite a big push to encourage

consumers to shop around, there are still concerns that

competition isn't working, and prices of gas and

electricity are too high. The CMA has spent two years looking

into it and last summer said residential customers have been

overpaying by an average of 5%, For the past 22 years,

Anne Gardner from Kent has been paying for her energy

in the same way. Like millions of people

across the UK, Anne uses Anne has a low income

but being on the meter means she routinely misses out on much

cheaper energy deals. You have to have a certain amount

of budget that you can spare to put And then if it turns really cold

and we just can't afford it, it is a case of, go and get

into your bed, or put on an extra jumper, an extra coat,

just something to wrap up I mean, you just cannot stretch

the money any further But an 18 month energy market

investigation has now concluded that The Competition and Markets

Authority has now proposed an energy price cap, for the 4 million

households on prepayment meters. Competitors will also be able

to access a database of users on standard tariffs,

so they can offer them better deals. And the watchdog also says the rules

of suppliers can offer just four The real headline is there is some

really good deals out But about two thirds

of us do not take them. We sit on the default tariffs,

which is about 25% or 30% more Our solution to this is going to be

to make it easier for people to switch, better informed,

cheaper, much less hassle. And we firmly believe that we're

well on the way to making this Last year the CMA found that

millions of households were paying The lack of competition has cost

consumers up to ?1.7 billion a year. That is ?500 million more

than it previously thought. If you want more information on that

story and plenty others you can go to the website.

Our top story: Reaching for the Big Bazooka again.

More stimulus is expected today from the European Central Bank.

We'll find out in a few hours' time.

Flexible working has often been touted as a way to improve company

Letting staff do hours which suit their families and work

from home has also been linked to a strong rise in the use

Powownow is a phone and video conference service which was set

It says it's one of Europe's fastest growing providers.

It operates across 15 European countries,

It's managing director is Jason Downes, who's been

You look happy in that photo. Threw is a business that lets people

thought which other for business purposes, lots of companies do a

similar service, like Skype, for example. Why would somebody choose

Powwownow, which I must admit I had not heard of until today. Lots of

our customers talk to me about the fact it is nice and easy, you can

register and the user within 90 seconds. They love the reliability,

it simply doesn't know, and we are very flexible in terms of tailoring

and approach right for their business. What kind of customer base

do you normally look at? We have a lovely spectrum, the largest group

are small and medium enterprises, they really embraced technology and

they can be spending less than ?100,000 a year with us but they use

the service for everything. Last week we had a large retailer doing a

big company announcement to 3000 people. There are various ways of

paying for this, just talk us through that, because many people

believe and assume it is quite a complicated process and quite

tricky. Again what customers tell us is as nice and simple. A number of

customers we never actually built, it is part of your phone contract

and your relationship with your mobile phone on landline provider.

-- Bill. You said it never goes wrong, that is quite of old

statement, especially with telecommunications, that is one of

the frustrations when you on a conference call and try to talk to

someone. You on hold all the connection drops or something. How

can you make the guarantee? I have been there for three years and I

have had one complaint on audio in the UK. Your company does conference

calling, never considered this sexy thing, howdy make that sexy interims

on marketing? The how do you. We try to make it fun so we talk about how

you can save money travelling but much more fun was last year we ran a

campaign about avoiding the horror of travel, talking about the horrors

of commuting around London. Sounds about right. It is Horrell pull-out

there. This year we have a theme about slightly overweight

gymnastics, the joys of bringing flexible working life. You get fat

working from home? You have more time to go to the gym. You have

looked into the issue of flexible working probably because you want to

expand your customer base but you have found that Flex for working is

not as available as we might perhaps thing. -- flexible working. We have

done some surveys and staggeringly 75% of people have no flexible

working options. In the UK. Why is that? Some of it is still fear, I

cannot see you or he, what are you doing? That is an old-fashioned

management technique. -- or hear you. If you talk about output rather

than input and regularly during the case using iMeet or even a simple

conference call chat you can find out. The new CEO of Yahoo famously

stopped working from home policy she argued that a lot of the creativity

and new ideas come when people are together working and chatting in

corridors. It depends what you want, for creativity are great but some

jobs you cannot work from home. Yes we could, we could present... The

technology is there, if you want to get people have a big video call. If

you want to find out some quickfire ideas do some messages. You can

share your screen or present what you want. It is old-fashioned to

think you cannot do things now. We could probably do the show in a

different way but you could be presenting from home. In pyjamas and

slippers. I am sure they would be some demand for that... Thank you so

much. Really interesting. Let's see what other stories

are being talked interesting. We will be talking through Singapore

and why it is the most expensive city and a massive cruise ship, but

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What other business stories has the media been taking

Jane Sydenham, Investment Director at Rathbones Investment Management,

let's start with the Singapore straits times, reporting on the fact

that Singapore is one of the world's most expensive cities. This is the

Economist intelligence unit reporting on this. Tell us more

about this. I imagine anybody watching in Singapore would say it

is true. It all comes down to demand. Singapore is often called

the Geneva of the Far East, it has a very good legal system, lots of

companies and individuals want to go and work there. They want to have

their trusts managed there, there is a lot of demand. That pushes up the

cost of housing off course. We have talked about cars and transport and

how expensive that is. Just those things alone make life but it's

pensive, even though actually food and day-to-day essentials may not be

quite as expensive. -- they make life quite expensive. We are seeing

here that London was sixth most expensive, New York seven. This

obviously compares more than 160 items you might buy if you are

living there. What is interesting and I think is how much cities have

moved. Australia has dropped quite a long way per click because of

currency. That makes a big difference. -- partly because of.

Currencies have been volatile this last year. Let's share what you have

been saying to us. Simon saying we asked you how you would measure the

most expensive city, Simon suggesting the small chocolate bar

cost depends where I am, the same chocolate bar would sell for more in

London, even more in Singapore. He is in Farnborough. Depends on the

chocolate bar... James Newman says, expensive city is social aspects,

civilised, refined culture, social aspirations, not just expensive

goods. It is not just about how much you spend, also about the culture.

Yes, exactly. Let's talk about this, I have mentioned it a few Times, the

viewers will feel they have been short-changed, Harmony On The Seas,

almost as long as the Eiffel Tower is high, 8000 passengers. It is a

city on the sea will stop a theme park, I gather there is a water

slide over ten stories. Different entertainment errors. The

reinvention of cruising, he used to be something that only elderly

people did, now families are very keen, there is endless entertainment

and interest for children. And all age groups. Now you will see the

marketing has changed, when I was a little younger you would cruises as

being something for the older person, but actually these for a

young famine would be amazing. We have the Chief Executive of Carnival

here several times and he talked about it at length but it is

interesting, lots of people today, hardly any of them have been on a

cruise because of the stigma. Despite the fact that obviously the

industry is ill doing a hell of a lot to transform cell. My husband

was trying to persuade me. I quite like the idea of a zip file on deck.

This has climbing walls, surfing machines, all sorts of things. And

also places where people have very young children. Would you come off

the boat? You can potter around. Also that if the family goes to a

hotel or resort there is not to do but actually they do not move around

very much. If there is constant entertainment, as long as children

are happy then parents are happy. Thank you very much for coming in.

There will be more business news throughout the day on the BBC Live

webpage and on World Business Report.