20/02/2012 World Business Report

eyes on Brussels - Greece meets another bail out and Japan's

growing trade deficit. Time for the latest financial news in World

Welcome. The headlines: Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet

to decide whether Greece has done enough to merit a huge bail out

loan. Meanwhile, violent protest against cuts in pay and pensions

continue. The record high trade deficit for

Japan in January after most of the country's nuclear reactors remain

shut down. The CEO of French biker Paul tells

me about his Asian expansion plans. So, has Greece finally bagged its

second bail out? Today's the day we should find out. It is not plain

sailing. It is possible that hardline countries might impose new

conditions or hold back some cash. Over the weekend the Greek Prime

Minister said they had agreed the final measures of cuts to the

minimum wage and state pensions. He then got on the plane to Brussels.

He may hold last-minute talks ahead of the finance ministers' meeting

this afternoon. Here we are again. The 130 bn euro question - will

they get that money agreed on today? Most likely they will. I

think the sides have been battling for months and this is the endgame

now. We are into the final stretch and, in order for the process to

move on to the critical stage where you are involving the banks and the

private sector involvement of the bail out, you have to have the

political package approved in order to move to the second phase, and

the planning for that is under way, and it is happening this week as

well. We have a rapid-fire sequence which is likely to kick off today.

Once we got this agreed on, what would happen next? The Greeks would

pass a law to potentially force the banks to agree to the terms of the

restructuring of the privately held Greek government debt. Then they

will move to the phase where the banks will voluntarily allow 100

billion of the debt held in private hands to be restructured, funded by

the bail out that the Europeans are organising today. Does this mean

Greece will not default? Technically it is as close to a

default as possible. It is the thin end of the wedge. Only just by a

pure technicality is it not the default at this stage but any of

the rating agencies could come in and say, on the basis of what is

happening, that the Greeks will pass into legislation this law

tomorrow - they could say this would constitute all the conditions

for default. It remains a question that will have to be answered this

week. There is a huge amount of risk involved as far as this saga

is concerned. One of those risks is political change - they might say,

we just can't see this through in terms of austerity measures. Have

they hedged against that? They have hedged by a really going against

the democratic process from a German and European perspective.

They have tried to require that the Greeks signed on to the details of

the package in spite of whatever may happen at the elections in

Greece. So in fact they are in many ways negating the potential voice

of opposition that could find a place in Greek government, trying

to nip it in the bud, and trying to make sure that you could not alter

the terms of the agreement. Thank you for coming in. Those trading on

the markets in Asia at the moment they agree that there will be a

conclusion to this particular element today. We will look at the

numbers later, but all along one of the problems has been that Greece

has found it hard to stick to its promises. It is usually the

politicians who are blamed for not collecting more taxes but one

trader says the Greek people must take responsibility for the

financial mess they are in. This man has a family of five and

used to own a multi- euro business employing 14 people building

swimming pools. Now he does of jobs for as little as 5 euros a time.

One problem was that many customers would not pay government tax but

he's still got chased for it. Tax rebates have now been cancelled so

he says there is little incentive to submit his paperwork. He says

many citizens try to dodge tax on every purchase. If they tell us,

for example, this costs 100 euros, we sometimes ask, if you will not

give me a receipt, will you give it to me for 80 euros? Of the state

loses taxes and income. This is also our fault but if 5 million of

us do that it is a bigger mound. workers like this struggle to feed

their families, finance ministers are gathering in Brussels and today

they are being asked to sign up for their biggest bail out yet. Each

time they demand in return them Greece changes its ways so more tax

is paid and collected so Athens starts to get a grip with its debts,

but so far there is not much evidence on the ground that the

country is yet turning over a new leaf.

Needless to say, as soon as we get any news from the finance

ministers' meeting today, we will make sure you hear it on the BBC.

Japan has reported a record high trade deficit with imports

outpacing exports by nearly 19 billion dollars. Tell us more about

Japan. It is indeed bad news with this

deficit in the month of January, and the culprit is the strong yen

which has hurt exports and the nuclear crisis which has increased

exports. Most of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were shut down after the

tsunami last year. Japan has been hurt by a slowdown in its key

export markets, the United States and the eurozone. Carmakers have

been the worst hit by the strengthening yen and these

disasters. There could be light at the end of the tunnel - the yen is

trading at a six-month the US dollar, inching closer to about 80

yen, and, with improving US economics, this could result in a

stronger green back which could further weaken the yen to between

82-85, so this could basically narrow the deficit over the next

few months. Let's change tack and talk about a

French a car looking to expand significantly in Singapore. --

baker. They plan to open branches in

Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines in the next year, and I

asked the CEO if they planned to go public on the French stock exchange

soon. You never say No But the filling of the family is to stay

private, work with franchising and just maintain the family business.

The family members are hands-on, not expecting huge profits. We have

a long-term vision so that has made a huge difference. You are opening

your flagship store here in Singapore for the south-east Asian

market. What are your plans in the region for the next few years?

the moment we are in three countries and we plan to expand to

one or two new countries per year. We are planning to open this year,

for example, in two new countries, especially in Indonesia. Argue

expanding in Asia because of slower growth in the eurozone? At the

moment we are planning to open 20 shops outside France. We have 350

shops and we believe we can double the size of the company in France.

We are opening, let's say, 32-40 shops in Europe per year. We think

Asia is another market, so that's why we want to establish our base

in Singapore, to be close to our partners. Paul's had it piled joint

venture in China last year and they plan to reopen operations on the

mainland by 2013. Let's squeeze in some other stories.

Iran has halted oil sales to British and French companies