:00:02. > :00:12.family after she looked at a boy. Those are the latest headlines from
:00:12. > :00:15.
:00:15. > :00:19.BBC World news. Now for the latest Hello and a warm welcome. You're
:00:19. > :00:22.with World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. The headlines:
:00:22. > :00:25.Making France more competitive. The government gets a high level report
:00:25. > :00:28.today, but it might not like the contents. A key week for Greece,
:00:28. > :00:37.parliament votes on more austerity and reform to the labour market,
:00:37. > :00:47.unions plan massive demonstrations. Japan's Toyota gets set to issue
:00:47. > :00:49.
:00:49. > :00:53.higher forecasts for profits Good to have you with us. France
:00:53. > :00:56.has asked one of its most respected businessmen to find out how to make
:00:56. > :00:59.the country more competitive. Today Louise Gallois, the former head of
:00:59. > :01:01.Airbus owner, EADS, delivers his report to the government. His
:01:01. > :01:06.recommendations are expected to include rethinking the country's
:01:06. > :01:10.controversial 35-hour working week. But it seems the government is
:01:10. > :01:20.already trying to distance itself from his ideas. Maddy Savage
:01:20. > :01:22.
:01:22. > :01:26.For workers here at one of Peugeot's factories the word
:01:26. > :01:30.competition is one they have heard a lot recently. Two weeks ago their
:01:30. > :01:36.bosses accepted the first date bail-out for France's car industry
:01:36. > :01:41.since the start of the financial crisis. -- state bail-out. There
:01:41. > :01:47.has been a meltdown in the steel industry. This plant in eastern
:01:47. > :01:51.France used to be a key supplier for countries across Europe but it
:01:51. > :01:55.has been closed. The demand for steel is down and those buying are
:01:55. > :02:02.going elsewhere. The government has admitted this is part of a national
:02:02. > :02:06.problem with competitiveness. need to sort out the finances and
:02:06. > :02:10.the economy. We want to have a stronger economy that can be more
:02:10. > :02:16.innovative and has stronger exports. It needs to hold its own on the
:02:16. > :02:20.world market and in particular on the European market. Earlier this
:02:20. > :02:25.year businessman Louis de Loire, who used to run the aerospace group
:02:25. > :02:30.A E D S, was asked to brainstorm solutions. His report is expected
:02:30. > :02:35.to suggest lower welfare payments for employers and longer hours for
:02:35. > :02:38.employees. Last week the country's Prime Minister hinted the
:02:38. > :02:44.government would consider extending the working week. But he quickly
:02:44. > :02:48.backtracked during a heated debate in Parliament. TRANSLATION: I'm
:02:48. > :02:53.going to disappoint you. My position is and always has been,
:02:53. > :02:57.and that is why I always oppose your policies, the legal limit
:02:57. > :03:01.should be 35 hours. This won't change as long as the left is in
:03:01. > :03:07.power. When ministers discuss the full report on Tuesday, the speed
:03:07. > :03:11.of any reforms they agree with is likely to be a key issue. Rushing
:03:11. > :03:16.changes to France's main industries is something Francois Hollande says
:03:16. > :03:23.he is keen to avoid. But his critics say the country needs to
:03:23. > :03:31.act quickly to stop further investments being driven abroad. I
:03:31. > :03:33.know I have said this before but It's a crucial week for Greece as
:03:33. > :03:36.the government attempts to drive through budget savings and reforms
:03:36. > :03:38.that will keep its international lenders happy. Today a new
:03:38. > :03:41.austerity package will be presented to parliament. It amounts to $17
:03:41. > :03:46.billion worth of cost cuts and tax increases. It also includes reforms
:03:46. > :03:50.to the labour market that will make it easier to hire and fire staff.
:03:50. > :03:53.Parliament is expected to vote on Wednesday. Meanwhile Greece's main
:03:53. > :03:57.public and private sector unions are planning a 2-day strike
:03:57. > :04:00.starting on Tuesday to protest against the legislation. Sony
:04:00. > :04:09.Kapoor is the managing director of the think-tank Re-Define. He joins
:04:09. > :04:13.us from Berlin. Nice to see you, Sony. It is not going to go without
:04:13. > :04:17.a fight. But do you think they will manage to get these latest
:04:17. > :04:23.austerity measures through Parliament on Wednesday? Given how
:04:23. > :04:28.desperate things are and how the country is more or less seeing the
:04:28. > :04:33.fact ring of the social and economic fabric, things will pass -
:04:33. > :04:38.- fracturing. But not without a fight, as you said. In terms of how
:04:38. > :04:42.things are, we have got two days of strike action starting tomorrow,
:04:42. > :04:49.and you say the pressure on everyone in Greece is at the utmost
:04:49. > :04:53.now, isn't it? Completely. We are basically stuck in a trap where the
:04:53. > :04:58.creditors and the European partners don't trust the Greek government
:04:58. > :05:03.and the Greek people to deliver on the reforms. And hence they want to
:05:03. > :05:07.continue to push them close to the edge, so things are desperate and
:05:07. > :05:12.there's an incentive to reform. The problem is this strategy also means
:05:12. > :05:17.there's a large amount of economic uncertainty driving investment away,
:05:18. > :05:21.it stops people spending, and it is sharply reducing any revenue that
:05:21. > :05:26.might arise from privatisation because the economic prospects are
:05:26. > :05:31.looking so gloomy. We are stuck in this trap where the loss of trust
:05:31. > :05:36.has basically pushed us into a policy position which is
:05:36. > :05:41.undermining the Greek economy in a very substantial way, and is eating
:05:41. > :05:45.away at the social and political fabric. As you say, politicians in
:05:45. > :05:53.Greece and lenders to Greece are doing everything they can to stop
:05:53. > :05:58.it from exiting the euro. But is the costs too high now? -- the cost.
:05:58. > :06:03.It depends on for whom. You could possibly imagine a scenario where
:06:03. > :06:09.over a substantial length of time, let's say ten years, if Greece left
:06:09. > :06:15.the euro on terms, which meant that the debt burden was reduced
:06:15. > :06:20.completely 20, it could potentially be good for Greece. But under no
:06:20. > :06:26.scenario is the total cost of an exit less than the total benefits
:06:26. > :06:31.that might arise. No matter what scenario you think of the total
:06:31. > :06:35.cost borne by not just Greece but also the European partners it has
:06:35. > :06:39.will be very substantial. It remains a bad idea for everybody
:06:39. > :06:42.involved. Sony, thank you for joining us. Of course there's a lot
:06:42. > :06:47.more to discuss with Greece and we will keep on the subject through
:06:47. > :06:51.the week. Let's now look at the Japanese car maker, because they
:06:51. > :06:55.are having a rough time at the moment partly due to a political
:06:55. > :07:00.dispute between China and Japan hitting sales of cars in China.
:07:01. > :07:07.Today we get an update from Japan's biggest car maker, Toyota or. We
:07:07. > :07:13.can go now to Singapore. -- Twitter. What is Toyota likely to say? --
:07:13. > :07:18.Toyota. Good things, Sally. In spite of the problems with China,
:07:18. > :07:22.which have hit sales to the mainland, Toyota has actually said
:07:23. > :07:27.it will issue a higher forecast according to Japanese media reports.
:07:27. > :07:31.It is likely to say that sales were driven up by sales to North America
:07:31. > :07:37.and south-east Asia in particular, which will help to offset the
:07:37. > :07:42.decline in China. Expectations are that Toyota will tweet their profit
:07:42. > :07:46.forecasts higher, possibly tripling their quarterly profit. It will be
:07:46. > :07:50.releasing those profits in about an hour. The shares rose to a one-
:07:50. > :07:56.month high after those media reports, they are still rising as
:07:56. > :08:00.well compared to a slight decline for the broader market. Alice are
:08:00. > :08:05.forecasting calls for Japan's biggest carmaker to have earned
:08:05. > :08:10.profits up to three times higher from a year ago. -- analysts are.
:08:10. > :08:14.That is when it was reeling from the tsunami and the earthquake.
:08:14. > :08:19.Toyota of course proving somewhat more resilient than a lot of their
:08:19. > :08:23.rivals, the likes of Nissan for example, and Honda Motor, which cut
:08:23. > :08:29.its forecast last week. Both of them are more reliant on sales to
:08:29. > :08:36.China than Toyota or is. But having said that China did account for 12
:08:36. > :08:42.% of total's global sales last year, that is well below Nissan's 27 %
:08:42. > :08:51.and Honda's 20 %. -- Toyota's global. But sales halved after
:08:51. > :08:57.those followed -- those protests in China. The full impact will not be
:08:57. > :09:02.felt in the current quarter, it will only be in the 4th quarter.
:09:02. > :09:06.Toyota has 7% of its market share in China. That of course is the
:09:06. > :09:13.world's biggest car market. Of cost this year it has seen better sales
:09:13. > :09:16.in the US, which is Toyota's biggest market -- of course. As
:09:16. > :09:23.well as south-east Asia. In the first nine months of the year
:09:23. > :09:27.Toyota sold over 7 million vehicles, that is more than any other car
:09:27. > :09:32.maker, and it could regain their top spot in the world when official
:09:32. > :09:38.numbers are out. Thank you for joining us. Some other business
:09:38. > :09:43.stories now. Apple paid tax at a rate less than 2% on its profits
:09:43. > :09:50.made outside the United States. In the end of the year to September it
:09:50. > :09:54.made $37 billion, but paid tax of $713 million. Like other
:09:54. > :09:58.multinationals, Apple uses legal methods to ship its earnings around
:09:58. > :10:06.the world to minimise their tax bill. India's second biggest
:10:06. > :10:12.private airline Jet Airways has recorded a quarterly loss of $80
:10:12. > :10:17.million. They have been boosted by problems with Kingfisher, which was
:10:17. > :10:21.grounded as their staff refused to work. And the animated movie topped
:10:21. > :10:30.the North American box-office over the weekend, it took $49 million,
:10:30. > :10:35.the biggest opening weekend for a Disney animation. Markets in Asia
:10:35. > :10:38.are relatively nervous today. It will probably remain so for most of