:00:11. > :00:13.This is Business Live from BBC News with Alice Baxter
:00:14. > :00:16.China's mighty engine is losing steam - the Asian giant
:00:17. > :00:18.reports the weakest growth since the financial crisis in 2009.
:00:19. > :00:44.Live from London, that's our top story on Friday 15th April.
:00:45. > :00:46.China's economy expanded at an annual rate of 6.7%
:00:47. > :00:49.in the first three months of this year - better than many
:00:50. > :00:52.developed economies - but too weak for this Asian might.
:00:53. > :00:58.the fallout from BP's dramatic shareholder revolt as a $20 million
:00:59. > :01:01.pay package for the boss Bob Dudley is rejected.
:01:02. > :01:03.But will it change the way executive pay is agreed?
:01:04. > :01:08.And we'll keep you up to speed with the markets.
:01:09. > :01:10.Global stocks pretty mixed on Friday as investors await the outcome
:01:11. > :01:19.And we'll be getting the inside track on a pact to share
:01:20. > :01:23.information by the five largest economies in the EU in the wake
:01:24. > :01:32.of the Panama Papers leak with our guest editor Andrew Walker.
:01:33. > :01:35.And so on that note, we want to know, do you think Russia
:01:36. > :01:37.and France will play ball and share their
:01:38. > :01:39.Would you share your tax information?
:01:40. > :02:01.We start in China with the slowdown in the world's number two economy.
:02:02. > :02:04.The latest growth figures show the weakest growth
:02:05. > :02:06.numbers since 2009 - since the financial crisis.
:02:07. > :02:14.In the first three months of this year,
:02:15. > :02:20.China's economy expanded at an annual rate of 6.7%.
:02:21. > :02:23.That's down from the 6.8% we saw in the last three months of 2015.
:02:24. > :02:26.This chart shows growth since the 1980s.
:02:27. > :02:28.From 2000, you can see the boom which boosted
:02:29. > :02:34.the whole world's economy - followed by a sharp slowdown.
:02:35. > :02:38.China's facing an array of challenges.
:02:39. > :02:40.From weak global demand for its products
:02:41. > :02:48.But at home, it's become too reliant on huge,
:02:49. > :02:52.inefficient state run firms, often called Zombie Companies.
:02:53. > :02:56.Some six million jobs will need to be cut over the next few years.
:02:57. > :02:58.This week the International Monetary Fund called China one
:02:59. > :03:00.of the biggest threats to global financial stability.
:03:01. > :03:02.In particular, Chinese firms that are struggling to pay their debts.
:03:03. > :03:04.That could be a huge ticking time bomb.
:03:05. > :03:06.The IMF says loans worth almost $1.3 trillion
:03:07. > :03:26.I'm joined by Jinny Yan, Chief China Economist at ICBC
:03:27. > :03:28.Standard Bank and also by our Asia Business Correspondent,
:03:29. > :03:44.Thanks for coming in. Karishma, you have been looking at this over
:03:45. > :03:50.there. And every time we get numbers out of Beijing, the big question is,
:03:51. > :03:57.can we trust those numbers? That is what everyone always asks, as you
:03:58. > :04:00.say, when these sorts of figures come out of Beijing. And certainly,
:04:01. > :04:06.it is very much in line with what the market was expecting. Analysts
:04:07. > :04:10.said that growth should come anywhere between 6.6 and 6.8%.
:04:11. > :04:17.Even the Chinese Communist Party, the National People's Congress, when
:04:18. > :04:19.they laid out their plans for the economy, they said that growth
:04:20. > :04:31.should come in between 6.5% and almost as if these figures have been
:04:32. > :04:35.plucked from the minds of Beijing officials themselves. But a lot of
:04:36. > :04:39.questions being asked about how real these figures are and whether there
:04:40. > :04:42.is a more protracted slowdown on the ground and how sustainable this sort
:04:43. > :04:44.of growth is for the Chinese economy.
:04:45. > :04:53.where you are. Jinny, can I ask you this, is China addicted to stimulus?
:04:54. > :04:56.I think the world is addicted to China.
:04:57. > :05:01.To China having high growth. I think the world very much needs China to
:05:02. > :05:04.be strong at the moment. The reason for growth in the rest of the world
:05:05. > :05:11.is not very clear at the moment. think a strong China is very good
:05:12. > :05:17.for the rest of the world, particularly emerging economies. So
:05:18. > :05:20.it is not very clear what is behind the growth for the rest of the
:05:21. > :05:28.world? What is behind the growth in the numbers for China? What we see,
:05:29. > :05:34.the real news is not really the headlines. 6.7%, everyone was
:05:35. > :05:39.expecting that. That is not the story, the story is that other
:05:40. > :05:44.official statistics, investment and production, those beat economic
:05:45. > :05:48.forecasts. That is actually a very strong trend. What we need to be
:05:49. > :05:50.concerned about is what lies beneath that. And of course we are going
:05:51. > :05:58.back into the traditional model of growth, pumping credit from the
:05:59. > :06:01.banks, and also infrastructure, government spending. This is how
:06:02. > :06:06.China grows and this is how they know to grow their economy. But
:06:07. > :06:07.China is very much trying to rebalance that towards consumption.
:06:08. > :06:13.But that seems to be taking a bit of a back
:06:14. > :06:14.seat for the moment. Jinny, is trying on
:06:15. > :06:21.toll of 6.5%? -- is China on course. How big a problem is corporate debt
:06:22. > :06:31.answer, 6.5% is achievable. I think the government will do a lot and the
:06:32. > :06:37.government has a lot of physical power to be able to achieve that
:06:38. > :06:39.growth. On the corporate debt story, that is a key
:06:40. > :06:49.This is a problem that China is trying to solve. A lot of that
:06:50. > :06:52.corporate debt, 160% of GDP, is sitting on banks' balance sheets.
:06:53. > :07:03.them, and if the government needs to step in with a capital injection, it
:07:04. > :07:04.may ultimately have to. And some of those state owned enterprises... Can
:07:05. > :07:06.I just bringing Karishma back in? On the debt, we
:07:07. > :07:23.talked about this could be a possible default. Can
:07:24. > :07:27.China handle that kind of some? Well, what we have been witnessing
:07:28. > :07:30.is a 30 year miracle of economic growth in China, and that proves
:07:31. > :07:32.that China can pretty much handle whatever it says it wants to handle.
:07:33. > :07:34.Don't forget, Beijing officials always points to the fact that China
:07:35. > :07:44.has a massive that is one of the big buffers to
:07:45. > :07:49.these problems. It also points to the fact that it is trying to reform
:07:50. > :07:53.the economy, as Jinny points out, but this level of debt, pumping
:07:54. > :07:58.money into the system and creating this economic growth figure that we
:07:59. > :08:04.have seen, how sustainable is that going forward? Because it can only
:08:05. > :08:09.produce growth for a period of time. And that is the big concern over the
:08:10. > :08:11.next couple of years. But Karishma, with growth still the
:08:12. > :08:18.China, very briefly, might we see that a rebalancing within the
:08:19. > :08:26.economy taking a back-seat? Indeed. And I think we are seeing
:08:27. > :08:27.sides of that. This is a difficult political issue
:08:28. > :08:31.for the government. Don't forget, a lot of what the Chinese economic
:08:32. > :08:41.on is that stability, the idea that people will not have massive job
:08:42. > :08:45.losses. We have been hearing about the massive
:08:46. > :08:50.steel and coal services... Industries. Thank you very much to
:08:51. > :08:52.you both. In other news, the five largest
:08:53. > :09:05.European economies have agreed to work together to try
:09:06. > :09:07.to combat tax evasion - urging other countries
:09:08. > :09:09.to follow their example. The UK has joined France,
:09:10. > :09:12.Germany, Italy and Spain in agreeing to share information
:09:13. > :09:13.about the secret owners of businesses and trusts who hide
:09:14. > :09:16.behind so-called 'shell companies'. The deal, announced
:09:17. > :09:18.at the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington,
:09:19. > :09:20.comes in the wake of the tax Microsoft is suing the US government
:09:21. > :09:27.over the right to tell its users when federal agencies want access
:09:28. > :09:34.to private data. It says keeping access requests
:09:35. > :09:36.secret is against the US constitution, which states that
:09:37. > :09:38.individuals should be made aware if the government searches
:09:39. > :09:48.or seizes their property. BP shareholders have rejected
:09:49. > :09:50.a pay package of almost $20 million for chief
:09:51. > :09:52.executive Bob Dudley at the oil Just over 59% of investors rejected
:09:53. > :09:56.Mr Dudley's 20% pay increase - which came despite record losses
:09:57. > :10:01.and thousands of job cuts. It is one of the largest rejections
:10:02. > :10:04.to date of a corporate The vote is non-binding on BP,
:10:05. > :10:36.but the company's chairman has We are having a quick look at the
:10:37. > :10:42.BizLive website. Car sales up across Europe, not a good story.
:10:43. > :10:51.Volkswagen, if you read the tablet, is down. Down by 1.6%. Despite the
:10:52. > :10:57.UK buying the highest number of VW cars
:10:58. > :10:59.since the uproar over that scandal. And the other one you
:11:00. > :11:06.wanted to highlight? Sales are up at the world's
:11:07. > :11:22.retailer, Carrefour, after robust sales in Spain and Italy.
:11:23. > :11:25.Let's take a look at what is happening around the world,
:11:26. > :11:32.kicks off its spring meeting on Friday. Finance
:11:33. > :11:36.leaders have been gathering in Washington, DC this week.
:11:37. > :11:40.High on the agenda, concerns over the global economy as well as
:11:41. > :11:47.possible risks of the UK exiting from the EU, known as a Brexit.
:11:48. > :11:48.Meanwhile, we will also find out how American
:11:49. > :11:53.consumers have been feeling lately when the latest figure for April
:11:54. > :11:57.gets released. And it is expected that they have been feeling slightly
:11:58. > :12:02.better thanks to steady hiring in the labour market. And of course the
:12:03. > :12:03.earnings season continues, with another banking
:12:04. > :12:06.giant, Citigroup, reporting its results for the first three months
:12:07. > :12:13.of this year. So far its rivals, such as JP Morgan
:12:14. > :12:15.and Bank of America, have all managed to surprise the market with
:12:16. > :12:20.slightly better-than-expected results. But you have to remember
:12:21. > :12:21.that investors have been expecting the
:12:22. > :12:26.worst quarter since the financial crisis, so it is the case of under
:12:27. > :12:30.promising and over performing. Well, let's move to Asian now
:12:31. > :12:32.where stocks are fairly subdued on Friday as investors digest
:12:33. > :12:38.China's slowing but relatively upbeat GDP numbers,
:12:39. > :12:40.which were in line Meanwhile here in Europe,
:12:41. > :12:50.after a buoyant few days lead by a surge in crude prices,
:12:51. > :12:53.markets have opened pretty flat - holding their breath before a key
:12:54. > :12:56.weekend meeting of oil producers - lead by Saudi Arabia
:12:57. > :12:58.and Russia to discuss The FTSE 100, fairly flat at the
:12:59. > :13:07.open. We are joined by Jane Sydenham,
:13:08. > :13:12.Investment Director, A familiar face to us all. Let's
:13:13. > :13:21.stay with the subject of oil and the
:13:22. > :13:23.markets. Not so much today but oil has had a bit of a surge and the
:13:24. > :13:29.markets have been that upward swing. It has had quite
:13:30. > :13:33.an effect. The oil majors have had a good run this week, feeling that
:13:34. > :13:34.perhaps finally the market is stabilising.
:13:35. > :13:39.This meeting at the weekend is going to be quite interesting though I do
:13:40. > :13:41.not think we are expecting that it will make a huge difference to the
:13:42. > :13:43.supply of oil. But for the first time in months and months, we might
:13:44. > :13:46.have a sense that maybe there is some discipline
:13:47. > :13:55.coming back into the market. That is what we are looking for. Can
:13:56. > :13:59.we switch gears? Nice little entry there, by the way. Every mistake
:14:00. > :14:07.that goes on here, I pick it up! I was just going to mention, crude
:14:08. > :14:12.prices, we saw this spike in equity earlier this week. Was that a case
:14:13. > :14:14.of markets taking their lead from what we saw happen to the crude
:14:15. > :14:20.price? Definitely. It was a downward force
:14:21. > :14:21.over the last few months, the sense that maybe to some extent it is
:14:22. > :14:28.good for consumers, if the prices for oil, but it is bad for stocks.
:14:29. > :14:37.-- if the prices fall. There is less demand in China for
:14:38. > :14:39.crude and commodities, so the sense of stabilisation is quite important.
:14:40. > :14:52.Mariko was mentioning it, but boy, what a difference a
:14:53. > :14:57.years can -- a year can make. 2016, pretty
:14:58. > :15:03.dismal, although 2015 was cracking. What is behind the change? To some
:15:04. > :15:06.extent, China. China is affecting growth around the world and the
:15:07. > :15:12.manufacturing part of most economies is performing brulee, even though
:15:13. > :15:13.services are doing well. That has affected all the major economies, we
:15:14. > :15:20.have seen a lot of for European companies coming down.
:15:21. > :15:23.A lot of those companies, to some extent,
:15:24. > :15:29.are under promising. 2-wood will be interesting to see if the earnings
:15:30. > :15:32.are as bad as expected. To some extent in the US, the strong dollar
:15:33. > :15:37.has been a worry because companies will be affected by that to some
:15:38. > :15:39.extent. If we see slightly better earnings, that would be good for the
:15:40. > :15:42.markets. Still to come, spring
:15:43. > :15:49.is in the air, the cherry blossom is in full bloom -
:15:50. > :15:52.so why such glum faces at the IMF and World Bank
:15:53. > :15:54.meetings in Washington? We'll tell you why -
:15:55. > :15:56.global economic jitters, headwinds from China
:15:57. > :15:58.and the damaging fallout You're with Business
:15:59. > :16:04.Live from BBC News. He's a game changer on the pitch
:16:05. > :16:09.and is now hoping to change Arsenal footballer turned
:16:10. > :16:15.entrepreneur Mathieu Flamini has been pioneering research
:16:16. > :16:18.into an alternative to oil With his business partner
:16:19. > :16:28.he co-founded GF Biochemicals, which is the first company to mass
:16:29. > :16:30.produce Levulinic Acid, which is said to be able to replace
:16:31. > :16:34.oil in all its forms - it could potentially
:16:35. > :16:36.be used as a bio fuel or to make pharmaceuticals,
:16:37. > :16:40.plastics, cosmetics and even Tanya Beckett began
:16:41. > :16:48.by asking how it works. It is acid which reacts
:16:49. > :16:52.exactly like oil. That means you can substitute oil
:16:53. > :16:57.in traditional products. And obviously you have
:16:58. > :17:02.patented the technology We have appropriate technology
:17:03. > :17:10.that we developed eight years ago. The company was created eight years
:17:11. > :17:14.ago in Italy. We started the production in 2015
:17:15. > :17:21.and today we are entering the market, increasing our
:17:22. > :17:24.production to 10,000 tonnes. That is obviously a relatively small
:17:25. > :17:29.amount compared to the whole market. How is it that you got started
:17:30. > :17:33.in investing in this business? I moved to Milan eight years ago
:17:34. > :17:36.to play for AC Milan. At the time we were already very
:17:37. > :17:43.interested in climate change. So we created this opportunity
:17:44. > :17:53.by meeting with a scientist and together we developed
:17:54. > :17:55.this bio technology. What skills do you
:17:56. > :17:58.bring to the table? For the operation we have a very
:17:59. > :18:09.strong team on the field. I'm more focused on the
:18:10. > :18:13.strategy of the company. Also what helps a lot is my business
:18:14. > :18:16.partner who is on He is dealing with the day-to-day
:18:17. > :18:18.operation. How have you managed to get sport
:18:19. > :18:24.and business to mix? I want to make clear something,
:18:25. > :18:26.my priority is football, But as you can imagine,
:18:27. > :18:31.all players have other interests outside the pitch
:18:32. > :18:42.and my interest is the bio economy. You're watching Business Live -
:18:43. > :18:45.our top story - China's economy grew at an annual rate of 6.7%
:18:46. > :18:48.in the first three months of this year -
:18:49. > :18:54.better than many developed economies And now let's get the inside
:18:55. > :18:58.track on a busy week Our economics correspondent
:18:59. > :19:07.Andrew Walker joins us now. But let's start with a story making
:19:08. > :19:30.headlines at the IMF and World Bank. They are going to share sensitive
:19:31. > :19:33.information, these five countries? Yes, I think so, if they can
:19:34. > :19:41.establish the owners of these so-called shell companies who are
:19:42. > :19:44.used to hide their high earnings from the tax companies, they say
:19:45. > :19:49.they will share that information with each other. It is five
:19:50. > :19:58.countries. They want the rest of the G20 to take up the baton and do the
:19:59. > :20:03.same thing. This is a battle with the tax authorities? Yes, where they
:20:04. > :20:08.have the information about who benefits from a company whether they
:20:09. > :20:12.are the formal legal owner of it, they will share that information
:20:13. > :20:23.with each other. Was this on the agenda? Or is this because of the
:20:24. > :20:27.Panama leaks? The IMF meetings, there is much going on in the
:20:28. > :20:33.sidelines, this was not formal IMF business as such, but no question
:20:34. > :20:36.there is a desire to be seen to be doing something rapidly in response
:20:37. > :20:44.to the panama papers. We have spoken about the impact of rising prices on
:20:45. > :20:49.crude oil, there is the key meeting of oil producers this weekend, and
:20:50. > :20:54.key people not attending, as well. We have two very large oil producers
:20:55. > :20:59.not there, the United States and China, although they are producers,
:21:00. > :21:03.they also very large importers, so on balance they tend to do better
:21:04. > :21:09.from a low oil price. They would not want to be seen to be propping the
:21:10. > :21:15.price up, but there is no question we have got Opec, probably all of
:21:16. > :21:21.Opec, which includes Saudi Arabia and Iran, but some suggestion the
:21:22. > :21:25.Iranian minister will not be there in person, sending one of his
:21:26. > :21:30.officials instead. Russia, Kazakhstan, Mexico. If they can
:21:31. > :21:36.agree to do something, that is a substantial chunk of the world oil
:21:37. > :21:43.market. Two points I want to make. We hear that may be they will freeze
:21:44. > :21:48.production at January levels, those levels were already record high.
:21:49. > :21:53.Iran is just back and it would like to build its output up to the
:21:54. > :21:58.pre-sanctions time of something like four million and it needs the money.
:21:59. > :22:03.They do, they feel very strongly that they are entitled to reclaim
:22:04. > :22:08.the market share they lost as a result of sanctions. There have been
:22:09. > :22:13.conflicting signals from Saudi Arabia about whether they would not
:22:14. > :22:18.be prepared to do some sort of freeze without Iran taking part. The
:22:19. > :22:22.deputy crown prince said that they would not, but I think Mosby both
:22:23. > :22:25.think that is not the last word from them on it, and the signs are that
:22:26. > :22:33.they will be prepared to make an exception for Iran -- but I think
:22:34. > :22:38.most people think. It would be no more than a phrase, as you said, but
:22:39. > :22:44.the prize is now 50% above the low it reached in January -- no more
:22:45. > :22:52.than a freeze. It is about $43, something like that, for Brent,
:22:53. > :22:55.compared to 27, in January, and the high reflects the expectation that
:22:56. > :22:59.there might be at least a freeze agreed, but the longer-term context,
:23:00. > :23:06.it was less than two years was $115, so a good deal less than
:23:07. > :23:16.half the peak it reached. Andrew, thanks for joining us.
:23:17. > :23:24.In a moment we have the business pages.
:23:25. > :23:28.But first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.
:23:29. > :23:37.We can keep you up-to-date with all the latest details with insight and
:23:38. > :23:42.analysis from the BBC team of editors and analysts from around the
:23:43. > :23:52.world. You can get involved with the BBC business web page. You can find
:23:53. > :23:54.us on Twitter and Facebook. Business live, on TV and online, whenever you
:23:55. > :23:56.need to know. What other business
:23:57. > :23:59.stories has the media been Joining again us is Jane Sydenham,
:24:00. > :24:09.Investment Director, We have found this story. In the
:24:10. > :24:19.Financial Times. We could not avoid it. The fallout of this shareholder
:24:20. > :24:26.revolt of BP shareholders, voting in huge numbers against Bob Dudley's
:24:27. > :24:32.20% pay rise. It is a complex issue, it is true that he can't be blamed
:24:33. > :24:36.for the level of the oil price and BP went into loss last year because
:24:37. > :24:41.it was paying out in relation to the deepwater horizon disaster. On the
:24:42. > :24:49.other hand, the absolute level of his pay and the multiple compared to
:24:50. > :24:53.the average pay for a BP employee. The force of this vote against this
:24:54. > :25:01.kind of pay package, does this mark a turning point? I think it does,
:25:02. > :25:06.actually. 60% vote against is quite something and in the past we simply
:25:07. > :25:09.have not seen that kind of level of protest and I think shareholders are
:25:10. > :25:14.becoming more activist and they are thinking about shareholder
:25:15. > :25:20.responsibility, it is a good thing. We only have 30 seconds. Microsoft
:25:21. > :25:28.suing the Justice Department? Another Civil Liberties action on
:25:29. > :25:32.behalf of tech companies, Apple are doing the same, Microsoft are
:25:33. > :25:36.concerned that the bar for what is a reasonable request for privacy is
:25:37. > :25:41.just too low. Consumers should know if their phone is being looked at by
:25:42. > :25:49.the government? Absolutely. There is a big increase, the US Justice
:25:50. > :25:52.Department looking at this. Yes. Jane, thanks for joining us.