20/12/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News, with Sally Bundock

Are we seeing the green shoots of recovery for the world's

The Bank of Japan speaks of better times ahead following a fall

Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 20th December.

Could the shock election result in the US provide a boost

Cyrus Mistry finally steps down from the boards of Tata companies,

Markets in Europe hold steady despite the geopolitical concerns,

intensified by events in Berlin and Ankara. We will tell you all we need

to know. How do online retailers compete

when a new start-up can set up We'll be speaking to the founder

of a fast-growing fashion And if you'd like to get in touch

about any of the stories covered in today's show,

we'd love to hear from you. 2017 is looking like a brighter

year for the world's The Bank of Japan says the recovery

is now a moderate trend in a sign of better times for the rest

of the world. At the central bank's last policy

meeting of the year, they kept interest rates

at minus 0.1%. The upbeat message was because of

a weaker yen and a pickup in demand from abroad,

which offer fresh hope for an economy that's been

stagnating for more than a decade. In November, the value

of the Japanese yen fell by over 9% as investors speculated that the US

central bank would raise interest rates at its policy meeting this

month, which it did. The weaker currency has been a boost

to Japanese companies, Despite this, there are question

marks over the so-called Abenomics programme designed

to kick-start the economy. It means the central bank

is currently buying around $680 billion worth of financial

assets every year. The latest official data saw

inflation come in at 0.1%. It's better than it was

but still far below the Bank of Japan's target of 2%,

and is why the banks says "powerful And there are also concerns over

the longer-term "structural reforms" promised by Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe. These include measures

to improve employment rates Takashi Miwa is chief economist

at the Japanese bank Nomura We have got inflation at just 0.1%,

and we still have negative interest rates. There is not a lot to

celebrate, is there? The weaker yen is a factor. As far

as the governor mentioned, the bank of Japan must stay on hold for a

while to get the benefit of the depreciation of the currency to get

higher inflation in the future. Something that we continuously talk

about when it comes to Japanese economic 's is structural reform,

like an overhaul of your jobs market, when will Japan accept more

immigration to balance the ageing population and workforce? Did you

think you will get the reforms under Abe? The Prime Minister is being

urged to make structural reforms in the Labour market. Higher wages are

crucial, higher growth and higher inflation. What about the effect of

Donald Trump in the New Year? He said he wants to pull out of the

transpacific partnership, which was imported for Japan, but it looks

like Japan could get a boost from his policies? We are expecting

something positive will be coming out from Donald Trump. The situation

is uncertain at the moment, whether he will have a protectionist

approach or not. Japanese businesses are still waiting to make business

president to come in the next year. president to come in the next year.

In a nutshell, what shall outlook for 2017 for Japan? We expect that

the Japanese economy will go on a gradual recovery. The uncertainty is

quite high. The risks are from the US and from China and Europe.

One other story we're keeping an eye on is the events in Berlin.

The authorities there are questioning a man they believe

intentionally drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market.

At least 12 people were killed, and nearly 50 have been injured,

The truck crashed into people gathered around wooden stalls that

were serving mulled wine and sausages at the foot

of the Kaiser Wilhelm church in west Berlin.

Police are now describing the incident as a "suspected

We have a special page on our website for what is going on in

Berlin. It covers any new developments, any information

regarding that particular event. To take a look at our website, we are

updating it all the time. German TV says special forces have

searched an airport hunger at the temple Hof airport. They says they

have had their first hot leader following the incident.

Keep across everything as when we receive it.

There's been another twist in the Tata saga in India,

with the ousted chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry,

resigning from the boards of all Tata Group companies.

His move came ahead of several extraordinary general meetings,

which had been called to remove him.

What is the latest on that? His decision to resign from all Tata

companies, ahead of these meetings, has come as a prop's surprise, but

they are still going ahead with the meetings. There was one scheduled

for the hospitality company, they are holding their meeting today.

Tomorrow Tata Steel will hold one. Tata don't want him to have the

final word, there want to put forward the reasons why they took

the decision, and they want to show that shareholders are on their side.

It will give a chance for shareholders to come forward and

express their point of view. There have been concerns about the way the

battle has played out in public. Tata has a very good image when it

comes to the public, but given that the warring factions put so many

allegations in the public domain, it has tarnished their reputation. We

will rely on you in Mumbai to keep us a cross that. The markets in Asia

wobbled a bit due to what is going in -- on in Berlin and Ankara.

Hopefully my team can fix the black screen. The markets in Europe

slightly up, we will hopefully bring the numbers to do. Holding steady.

The big movers on the FTSE 100 is the Lloyds Banking Group, up 1%,

they are buying a UK credit card company. They are wheeling and

dealing, and that stock is on the move.

Joining us is Trevor Greetham, head of multi-asset

I want to talk about the Italian banks, they have been in the

spotlight for some time, they are sitting on $400 billion of bad debt.

might have to step in, they are might have to step in, they are

talking about passing a vote to raise 20 billion euros. Is that a

bailout? It is nationalisation? They are trying to navigate the EU rules

on state capital injections. If they inject capital into the bank, they

have to share the pain with some of the bondholders. The Italian

Government stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they were to let a

bank fail, there would be depositors losing money, if they bail a out,

bondholders lose money. That is a bail in. A lot of the bondholders in

Italy in particular or individuals. They make themselves unpopular with

savers or savers. They have a tricky situation. They are trying to

encourage private sector capital to come in, but so far, since 2009, the

bank has had 4 billion euros of public money and 8 billion euros of

private money, it is looking for another five, and it is touch and

go. What Italy needs is some growth and inflation. And some structural

reform may be? That would help, but getting growth and inflation going

when you cannot weaken your currency is fickle. You could see the

political tension. We had the bank of Japan meeting, the last of the

central banks to meet this year. China releasing its growth figure

that it expects to hit next year. 6.5%. It is always 6.5! The Chinese

economy grows rapidly and slows down, there are interesting things,

but the official numbers never seem to change. Last year, when we kicked

off, there was a panic about China having a hard landing and the

currency was weak and oil prices were collapsing, but now if anything

the issue is the other way around, the economy is strengthening,

housing market is booming. We have seen a shift, which is what Beijing

has wanted to do. It has not been the factory floor, it is the

services. The housing market. A lot of stimulus was thrown at China over

the last couple of years, including currency weakness, and they have

turned inflationary for the world, and that is why will see interest

rates going up and bark -- bond market selling off. If the interest

rates go up, that could be a problem.

Have a Merry Christmas, it is the last time we will see you before the

New Year. How do online retailers compete

when a new start-up can set up We'll be speaking to the founder

of a fast-growing fashion You're with Business

Live from BBC News. At this time of year,

many of us will be stocking up on drinks and going out

for Christmas parties, but what we're choosing

to buy is changing. Sales of gin and rum are up by more

than 10% in the last year. Steph McGovern is in Warrington

at one of the UK's oldest gin distilleries to find out how they're

keeping up with demand. Hello. This is one of the UK's

oldest distilleries, and they have been making gin here for 250 years.

We are here because sales of gin have been increasing, it is really

popular now, up 10% over the last year. Joanne is the master

distiller. Tell us what goes into gin. It is made of three building

blocks, spirit, British wheat, water, a local water, and

botanicals. The only botanical we have to put in is juniper berries.

They come from the Toscana region in Italy. We also have coriander from

Morocco and lemon peel from pain. -- Spain. It is hand peeled, sitting

around in the Spanish sun and peeling those are. It has got eight

different botanicals, we will put them in pots. Replace everything in

there with water and spirits, heat everything up. At 80 degrees that

alcohol boils and the vapour travels up the column and goes over the Lion

arm, it's the condenser and into the receiving tanks.

Why do you think gin is so popular? It is a versatile spirit. It lends

itself well to cocktails. It smells lovely in here today. That's it from

me here at one of the UK's oldest gin distilleries.

That was Steph, of course, who looks completely sober. I'm glad I didn't

do that OB! There is a lot of detail on the

website. Second day of strikes. Hundreds of workers on strike again

today for the Post Office and Southern Rail guards as well. Keep

up-to-date. The poor people that rely on Southern Rail, I tell you

what, tough times. Our top story, 2017 is looking

like a brighter year for the world's The Bank of Japan says

its recovery is now "moderate" The upbeat message was attributed

to a weaker yen and a pick up A quick look at how

markets are faring. Holding steady given events going on

in Europe at the moment. There is talk of the Santa rally which is

historically a period of time where markets head higher in the run-up to

Christmas and in the funny week between Christmas and New Year when

some markets are open for short periods of the there is a lot of

distortion on markets because of thin trade. But that's how they are

at the moment. For a boutique fashion retailer -

trying to expand by opening new outlet stores can

be incredibly expensive. The costs of new leases,

staff and additional merchandise can One website trying to make it easier

is Farfetch, but for a price. The firm sells goods from almost 500

boutique stores to customers Last year it saw sales rise by 70%,

reaching more than $0.5 billion. Its clients don't mind splashing

the cash with customers on average Jose Neves is the Chief Executive

and founder of FarFetch. Good morning. Welcome to Business

Live. Can I start with this? What are you? Are you a retailer or are

you like a software tech company? We are a platform. We are an E-commerce

platform. We are not a retailer. You don't hold any goods. You don't have

any stuff in terms of infantries sitting in warehouses? No. We

connect the most beautiful stars around the world to a digital

platform and that allows customers around the world to shop the streets

of London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo and Calais. The logistics of this, like

getting it to the, all the items could be in one country and I order

from a boutique. The logistics of getting the goods must abnightmare?

We ship from 40 countries to 150 with no surprises. Through Customs

clearance and local currencies and local payment systems. We have 12

offices that we have local teams. So we have local teams in all key areas

and they are taking care of our customers and making sure all these

logistics are spotless and impeccable. As far as you're

concerned, you were coding at the age of nine and you grew up in a

fashion world, didn't you, really? You designed your own shoes

initially which are still selling today, aren't they? The brand is

Swear? Yes, I started programming computers. It was my passion since I

was a little kid and at the age of 19 I started my own business. Being

from the north of Portugal there is a big fashion cluster. It is close.

One hour drive from the largest fashion company in the world. My

actual customers, when I was a programmer were fashion businesses

that got me close to fashion and fell in love with that industry and

came to London in 1996 to design and start my shoe label and that's it.

We often use the word because it is banded around quite a bit, unicorn a

company that's valued at $1 billion before it goes to the markets.

That's you guys are. Is that a help or a hindrance? Obviously, it is

good for media. It gets media attention. It gets some media

attention and quite frankly it is good for recruitment because if

you're trying to recruit someone that doesn't necessarily know about

your company, they Google it and see there was significant valuation

event throughout the company. But that's it. That's not what we care

about. Just briefly, you're Portuguese. You lived in the UK,

well in London for over 20 years and you employ many overseas, but in the

UK alone 300 odd people. Yes. You're wondering if you will be able to

stay, aren't you, depending on how Brexit goes? Well, the worry is more

long-term. So 50% of our workforce here in London is not British. Not

by design. It is because we found the best dofrles or the best fashion

merchandisers or from Sweden or from the West or from Spain or wherever

they are. That's the key concern. I often joke I wouldn't have, if there

was a points system I wouldn't be given a visa package! Surely you

would get the points if you employ 300 people. At the time, I wouldn't.

Back then, you wouldn't. You're here 20 years, you are part of the

furniture! You would hope so. Say merry Christmas in Portuguese.

In a moment we'll take a look through the Business Pages but first

here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.

The Business Live page is where you can stay ahead. We will keep you

up-to-date with the latest analysis from the BBC's team of editors

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BBC Business Live page. On Twitter we are at:

You can find us on Facebook at: Business Live on TV and online

whenever you need to know. The BBC's Dominic

O'Connell is with us. This result in France regarding

Christine Lagarde and allegations when she was Finance Minister and

they have decided she was in the wrong. There was a criminal case. No

fine and no sanction. No sanction at all. The IMF said, "We are sticking

by her." Not long ago she took over from Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He left

under a cloud. He was not convicted of anything. She has bvenlt after

allegations of assault against a New York hotel maid. There is something

about IMF and French politicians, but you can understand why the IMF

have done it, the Trump presidency, they don't want to be looking for a

new managing director right now. Is she regarded as somebody who does a

good job? She is a good figure head for the IMF, she is instantly

recognisable and very, very quotable. She is great on media. All

these things make her a good head for the IMF, you might say the IMF

hasn't covered itself in glory over the last few years, but she is

regarded as a safe pair of hands. It would have been a surprise if they

had to get rid of her. A conviction is a conics even if there is no

penalty. Monopoly set-up a helpline to stop bust-ups at Christmas time.

We play it our home. Do you have bust-ups? It can cause real dos. Do

you play it? This is a PR stunt. It is open for two days. Which two

days? It opens on Christmas Eve and finishes on Boxing Day. But really

it is just a PR stunt, Hasbro who makes Monopoly would love if people

play it. These days they are more likely to be on digital games. Is it

not so popular just like Lego. It goes on and on, Monopoly? There is a

kids version of Monopoly which doesn't have the nasty little rules

and it is over in 15 minutes. The key is you want the yellow ones, the

green ones and the dark blue ones. Yeah. The most expensive. Purple

then! Park Lane. I like coming off when

you come around the purple and the orange. You are the dog. Don't you

have a free parking rule, every time you pay a penalty? This is one of

the biggest bones of contention. The biggest thing was people stealing

from the bank! 13% of people admit to stealing from the bank! The other

thing is what is a free parking rule. I wonder what Christine

Lagarde's rules are when she plays? Sally, I wouldn't even go there!

That's it for another day. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

We're seeing a change to our weather starting today across Scotland and

Northern Ireland. Wet and windy weather moving in here