:00:02. > :00:06.court on Friday the 27th. Those are the latest headlines from BBC World
:00:06. > :00:16.News. Time now for the money news with Aaron and World Business
:00:16. > :00:24.
:00:24. > :00:29.Bad-tempered exchanges. Currency wars to top the agenda for G20
:00:29. > :00:33.finance chiefs when they meet in Moscow later today. Plus why a
:00:33. > :00:43.recession in Europe is fuelling a labour unrest in South Africa. We
:00:43. > :00:49.
:00:49. > :00:56.take a look at the problems facing Welcome to the programme. A quick
:00:56. > :01:00.look at the latest in the world of business and money. Looking at the
:01:00. > :01:05.expected Eardley numbers from Anglo-American this morning later.
:01:05. > :01:09.-- ugly numbers. Let's start with the G20, the leaders meet in Moscow
:01:09. > :01:13.later and there's no doubt what will be topping the agenda.
:01:13. > :01:17.Currency wars. Accusations have been flying that certain developed
:01:17. > :01:21.economies have been competitively trying to devalue their currencies
:01:21. > :01:26.to boost their exporters and also give their struggling economies a
:01:26. > :01:32.bit of a leg up. Japan has been cast as the chief villain. It has
:01:32. > :01:38.seen the end slump around 20% against major currencies since
:01:38. > :01:42.November -- the yen. But as Rupert Wingfield Hayes reports from Tokyo,
:01:42. > :01:46.many in Japan feel they are being singled out unfairly.
:01:46. > :01:52.The dramatic fall in the value of the yen has been very good news
:01:52. > :01:56.here, especially for Japanese carmakers. Big exporters like
:01:56. > :02:01.Toyota, Nissan and master are all predicting much higher profits both
:02:01. > :02:06.this year and next as the value of the yen slides towards 100 to the
:02:06. > :02:11.US dollar -- Felipe Massa there. The fall of the yen is a direct
:02:11. > :02:16.result of Shinzo Abe's promise to hugely increase monetary easing. In
:02:16. > :02:20.simple terms he has pledged to force the Bank of Japan to keep
:02:20. > :02:27.printing money until prices in Japan start rising by at least 2% a
:02:27. > :02:31.year. The result has been a huge yen sell-off. Some, especially the
:02:31. > :02:36.big US carmakers, are already complaining that Japan's
:02:36. > :02:40.deliberately forcing down the value of its currency to make six exports
:02:40. > :02:46.cheaper. But others are more sympathetic to Tokyo -- its exports.
:02:46. > :02:49.They point out that since 2008, the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England
:02:49. > :02:55.and European Central Bank have all been printing money even faster
:02:55. > :03:02.than the Bank of Japan. Since the 2000 an aide Lehman collapse, Japan
:03:02. > :03:07.has also suffered from having a so- called safe haven currency -- 2008.
:03:08. > :03:13.From an average value of 115 to the US dollar the yen shot up hitting a
:03:13. > :03:18.high of 76 to the dollar in 2011. By the end of last year Japanese
:03:18. > :03:25.exports were shrinking fast and Japan was heading back into
:03:25. > :03:30.recession. That, they are arguing, is good for no one.
:03:30. > :03:35.Let's get more on this and go over to the Asia office. Great to see
:03:35. > :03:40.you. Some may say the Japanese have a valid point because they are
:03:40. > :03:50.saying, hang on... The Europeans and the United States and the Bank
:03:50. > :03:51.
:03:52. > :03:57.of England have all been printing money hand over fist. I guess the
:03:57. > :04:03.Japanese yen has been very very strong for many years now, even
:04:03. > :04:07.after that awful natural disaster that hit the country in March, 2011.
:04:07. > :04:13.The Japanese yen remained very strong, uncomfortably strong, for
:04:13. > :04:17.exporters then. They are the backbone of the Japanese economy.
:04:17. > :04:23.Only since the most recent election was called in the middle of
:04:23. > :04:27.November we started to see the Japanese yen weakening. Now the new
:04:27. > :04:31.Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been very vocal about printing more
:04:31. > :04:36.Japanese yen and trying to set the inflation targets so that the
:04:36. > :04:41.falling prices, known as deflation, will be tackled properly. Since
:04:41. > :04:45.then we have seen the Japanese yen weakening almost 20%. While it is
:04:45. > :04:51.quite a significant weakness that we have seen in recent months, you
:04:51. > :04:57.can imagine people in Japan saying, "But we had to put up with a strong
:04:57. > :05:01.Japanese yen for many years". Absolutely. How is it doing today?
:05:01. > :05:09.Yesterday I was looking at the markets and the Nikkei closed down
:05:09. > :05:15.1% because it had notched up a little bit in value? That's right.
:05:15. > :05:18.The end today is trading at around 92. -- the yen. It has strengthened
:05:18. > :05:27.quite a lot compared to Monday when the Japanese currency hit the
:05:27. > :05:32.weakest level in almost three years, 94.47 yen against the US dollar. It
:05:32. > :05:36.is all because of mixed messages we have been getting from various
:05:36. > :05:41.officials. On Monday the reason the Japanese yen weakened was because
:05:41. > :05:45.of a comment from a US Treasury official who said he supports
:05:45. > :05:50.Japan's monetary policies and setting of inflation targets, but
:05:50. > :05:55.then we got some confusing targets from the G7. In the end the group
:05:55. > :06:02.had to clarify their statement, saying that they are concerned
:06:02. > :06:07.about excessive moves and the Japanese yen will be in the
:06:07. > :06:12.spotlight in Moscow at the G20 summit. The Japanese yen might get
:06:12. > :06:19.a boost in terms of the new governor by keeping the value down.
:06:19. > :06:29.This could go favourably to what the government wants to see. Indeed.
:06:29. > :06:29.
:06:29. > :06:35.The current governor was supposed to step down, he wasn't supposed to
:06:36. > :06:41.step down until April. He announced that he will step down a few weeks
:06:41. > :06:47.earlier before the term is up on 19th March. Now the government is
:06:47. > :06:51.trying to come up with another governor. It seems like we will get
:06:51. > :06:54.somebody who is in line with the Government's policy of printing
:06:54. > :07:00.more money, setting inflation targets. It's quite likely that we
:07:00. > :07:05.will get a new governor who is going to support the Government's
:07:05. > :07:10.policies of monetary easing. glad you said his name because I
:07:10. > :07:16.wasn't going to attempt it! Thank you for joining us. Talking about
:07:16. > :07:21.the mining giant Anglo American. Their annual numbers are out later
:07:21. > :07:26.and they will reveal profits plunged around 40% over the past
:07:26. > :07:32.year. Times are getting harder for these mining companies. Why?
:07:32. > :07:37.Demands for commodities are at a ten-year low. For Anglo-American,
:07:37. > :07:41.by far the biggest worry is its platinum business in South Africa
:07:41. > :07:46.where the downturn has been causing growing tensions with its workers.
:07:46. > :07:56.Nigel Cassidy has this report. Parling Platinum into profit has
:07:56. > :07:57.
:07:57. > :08:05.become a struggle for Anglo American -- turning. Job losses
:08:05. > :08:09.could reach 14,000. The company said it lost over 3500 since last
:08:09. > :08:16.summer. With 80% of the world's proven reserves, South Africa has
:08:16. > :08:21.borne the brunt of the industry downturn. So far talks with workers
:08:21. > :08:24.and the ruling African National Congress have failed to quell the
:08:24. > :08:30.resistance. Unions in Rustenburg near Johannesburg are prepared for
:08:30. > :08:34.what they described as the mother of all strikes. Wildcat action has
:08:34. > :08:39.already put the group into the red. It's a grim reminder of the
:08:39. > :08:43.violence in the region that killed over 50 last year. And all this,
:08:43. > :08:53.say analysts, while producers struggle to bring costs and
:08:53. > :09:06.
:09:06. > :09:10.supplied -- supply in line. That has yet to be arranged with the
:09:10. > :09:14.Ministry in South Africa to see how they would go about doing that.
:09:15. > :09:21.for future demands, one of the common uses for platinum is in car
:09:21. > :09:25.catalytic converters. This leaves producers still exposed to the
:09:25. > :09:32.economic crisis in Europe and hoping prices recover in line with
:09:32. > :09:36.any rise in global demand. Let's take a look at the markets in
:09:36. > :09:41.the Asian region. It is not an Asian story driving these markets
:09:41. > :09:45.lower. It is the same old European story. In particular those