26/09/2012 World Business Report

vigil has been held. They are the headlines from BBC World News. Time

for the money news. Here is Sally and World Business Report. Hello.

Welcome to World Business Report. Here are the headlines:Greece is

expected to grind to a standstill as trade unions call the first

general strike since the Conservative-led Coalition came to

power. Results from Lloyds of London should show an improvement

after the massive losses of last year. From Singapore - Toyota, and

Nissan are reducing production in China. AntiJapan sentiments over

the China Sea impacts sales. Good to have you with us. Once again

there are scenes of the widespread protests against austerity across

Europe. Thousands of protesters gathered in Madrid to vent their

anger over cut backs and tax hikes. Riot police fired rubber bullets on

the protesters. The latest demonstration comes two days before

the Spanish Government is due to unveil its budget. It is likely to

contain further cut backs. Many economies have been saying they'll

need to approach European authorities for a bailout. The

focus moves to Greece, where unions plan to bring the country to a

standstill. Civil servants, teachers, lawyers, and others have

been called out on a 24 hour strike. This is the first general strike

that the three-party Coalition government had to say since taking

option, despite warnings from the head of the International Monetary

Fund that delays in reforming the economy is growing a shortfall in

Greece. I'm joined by a senior lectureer at Cardiff Business

School. Thank you for being on the programme. The strikes today - how

effective will they be, do you think, in impacting with the

Coalition government will decide in terms of future cuts. Participating

in the strike is comprehensive. I do not think that this strike will

have any impact whatsoever in the short term. There may be an impact

which will be political. Greece is now governed by a Coalition, and

some parties may take notice, but I think they have little room to

mover. My expectation is that the policy will not change as a result

of the strike. In terms of room for manoeuvre, they are due more money

next month. That is only on Monday. They are due more money from the

bailout creditors soon, yet they have to be specific before they get

the money about future cuts which we'll expect today or tomorrow in

terms of an announcement. Exactly. The Greek Government agreed with

the troika to cut expenses. The discussion among the partners of

the Greek Coalition is where to make the cuts. Unfortunately, these

cuts are necessary. Greece is findinging itself in this present

situation as a result of overspending. It is harsh and

unpleasant and difficult for large sections of the population. These

cuts are necessary for the sake of the Greek economy, first and

foremost. How do you think this will play out. They are necessary,

and they won't get future money unless they implement the cuts.

There's a lot of unrest and a Coalition government which is not

strong. I think that the government has a clear mandate from the

general election held in June, to keep Greece in the Eurozone. That

was the dilemma presented to the Greek people. They gave an

endorsement of the political party. There's political legitimacy. On

the other hand you are right. The cuts will not be easily accepted by

large parts of the population. The Government has to stay strong, stay

the course. On the other hand our European partners should help by

saying clearly that as a result of these reforms, Greece will stay in

the Eurozone. Bring us up to date on the Prime Minister's plea for

time from the EU, IMF and ECB. Do they have more time or is it still

being negotiated? It is at the stage of negotiation. It's not

talked among the top politicians, I think there is a chance that they

will get additional time. Thank you very much for being on the

programme from the Cardiff Business School. Lloyds of London, it's the

largest insurance market is likely to have cashed in on a quiet spell.

Last year was the second most expensive on record for insurers,

with claims $20 billion following floods in Australia and Thailand,

an earthquake in New Zealand, and Japan's earthquake and tsunami.

This year, in comparison, it's been virtually disaster free. But the

insurer has not scopd the Eurozone crisis. It may have judged the --

escaped the Eurozone crisis. It may have escaped the crisis, and Lloyds

moved out of the bond market to limit risks. It's concerned over

action taken by the Central Bank. The low int The low inte environment

may be good for the banking sector, but it makes it difficult for the

insurers to make money on assets they hold. It's not just the euro

currency causing a headache. Insurance terms are caught up in a

crackdown caused by banking scandals. Lloyds says it's not only

unfair, but damaging to its business. Under rules drafted by

regulators by the G20 group of countries, any financial country

big enough to destablise the economy could be forced to hold an

additional capital buffer. concern is they are getting tarred

with the same brush as the banks. They haven't caused the financial

crisis. They were able to provide cover where it was necessary to

people that needed it throughout the financial crisis, and they feel

that they are to be tarred with the same brush, to be implemented in --

implicated in the scandal and have regulations imposed upon them is

unfair. Insurers are better at handling risk. With the threat of a

break-up of the Eurozone, and extreme weather patterns, it could

only take a major disaster to see a repeat of record claims of 2011.

The Japanese autogoints, Toyota and Nissan are re-- giants, Toyota and

Nissan are reducing production. We have more from Singapore. We were

saying this week that they had reopened the factories, they were

closed and demand has gone down for the girls. -- for the cars. That's

right, the row between the Japanese and Chinese is impacting sales of

carmakers. That's why they are scaling back output in China. They

are adjusting production and will halt production from October. Media

reports are saying that they will stop all vehicle exports to China

from Japan. As for Nissan, they said the factory was run by a joint

venture on the mainland and it will suspend operations from 27

September - tomorrow. That's three days earlier than a scheduled

holiday from 30 September to 7 October. Other factories closed

factories for days, as they became embroiled in the antiJapan protest

over the dispute between the islands on the China Sea. And the

dispute that is heating up. It is heightening friction between the

they are ramping up a challenge by filing a trade complaint in

Brussels. It is on top of a complaint, and accuses China's

solar panel makers of receiving illegal subsidies, and they opened

an investigation against Chinese companies for selling products for

less money overseas. This could sour trade relations between the EU,

and China, worth more than $500 billion. Thank you. And the markets

in Asia today, I have to say, are not having a good session. Almost a

2% lose in Japan - on news that the Telecom survey shows that sentiment

among manufacturers has fallen significantly. We had the Federal