13/08/2013

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:00:01. > :00:11.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

:00:11. > :00:18.

:00:18. > :00:21.Now for the latest financial news with World Business Report.

:00:21. > :00:26.The president was upbeat, the finance minister less so. The

:00:26. > :00:29.question - is France back on the path to growth?

:00:29. > :00:39.Mexico plans to open up its state run oil industry to private

:00:39. > :00:39.

:00:39. > :00:44.investment for the first time in 75 years.

:00:44. > :00:47.Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Alice Baxter. In a minute we'll

:00:47. > :00:53.also look at Blackberry. The phone company is putting itself up for

:00:53. > :00:56.sale, question is - will anyone buy? France is to publish figures for the

:00:56. > :00:59.second quarter of the year tomorrow with economists predicting a slight

:00:59. > :01:06.rise in growth, perhaps signs Europe's second biggest economy is

:01:06. > :01:09.beginning to emerge from recession. But after some recent upbeat

:01:09. > :01:12.messages from the president, his finance minister warning this past

:01:12. > :01:19.weekend the recovery is still precarious and that over the year

:01:19. > :01:22.the French economy might shrink by 0.1%. Our Paris correspondent

:01:22. > :01:32.Christian Fraser has been assessing the mood among the Paris business

:01:32. > :01:33.

:01:33. > :01:42.community ahead of tomorrow's announcement. The stalls of the

:01:42. > :01:47.original, and biggest flea market in the world. Many of these traders at

:01:47. > :01:51.setting up for the hope of making a profit. This man says things are so

:01:51. > :01:59.bad that many of his fellow tenants are on the brink. TRANSLATION: They

:02:00. > :02:06.are pessimistic. They are on the right to have the shop. They bought

:02:06. > :02:12.it. Now they are unable to sell it. Sometimes they have to leave without

:02:12. > :02:16.hitting a penny, just as they can not pay. All this is the time when

:02:16. > :02:22.many leave the city. At least one third of the shops would normally be

:02:22. > :02:27.open. The shutters sell the story. Few signs of the recovery that only

:02:28. > :02:32.four weeks ago the president was confidently predicting. No country

:02:32. > :02:36.has greater affinity with food than France, and yet the number of people

:02:36. > :02:42.dining and restaurants last month fell by 13% on the same period last

:02:42. > :02:47.year. That is a record for. Twin with declining consumer spending,

:02:47. > :02:55.these figures show the fragility of any so-called recovery. This man

:02:55. > :03:02.runs a start-up. They are Internet headhunters. A business that can be

:03:02. > :03:08.seen as a barometer of the national need. People want to invest, even if

:03:08. > :03:12.the crisis is not over. The IMF suggests that the government stops

:03:12. > :03:21.raising taxes and focuses on reducing government spending. A

:03:21. > :03:28.statement the pleasing and fully supports. Until the reforms are done

:03:28. > :03:32.in the deficit is reduced, will not be in the shape of recovery.

:03:32. > :03:39.most precious, as he is confidence. It is about the only thing you

:03:39. > :03:44.cannot find in the stores. Francois Hollande has promised to cut

:03:44. > :03:46.spending. The Mexican president, Enrique Pena

:03:46. > :03:48.Nieto, has proposed changing the country's constitution to allow

:03:48. > :03:57.foreign private oil and gas companies to form partnerships with

:03:57. > :04:00.the state in the energy sector for the first time in decades. The

:04:00. > :04:03.changes are part of a package intended to attract private money

:04:03. > :04:06.into the sector. The Mexican oil industry was nationalised in 1938

:04:06. > :04:11.and opinion polls suggest that most of the country's citizens would

:04:12. > :04:18.prefer it to stay that way. Mr Pena Nieto also wants refining, transport

:04:18. > :04:23.and other related services open to private companies. With me is James

:04:23. > :04:31.Lockhart-Smith, principle analyst at Maplecroft. This is a bit of a

:04:31. > :04:37.revolutionary step being taken by Mexico. It is an important step and

:04:37. > :04:41.you look at it and a historical perspective. It is not as

:04:41. > :04:45.revolutionaries as investors may hope. These are contracts where

:04:45. > :04:50.investors would share profits and risk, but not on any assets in

:04:50. > :04:55.Mexico. That is a crucial point. It means that they are unlikely to book

:04:55. > :04:59.reserves and they are trying to raise capital for new projects. It

:04:59. > :05:04.will slow the pace of new exploration and production. This

:05:04. > :05:09.will be an incremental step towards the regime. So they will share some

:05:09. > :05:19.profits and risk? A joint-venture. Why is Mexican President Enrique

:05:19. > :05:21.

:05:21. > :05:29.Pena Nieto doing this? When the former president attended a former

:05:29. > :05:33.overhaul. This is early days. This is just being proposed. It is a

:05:33. > :05:38.changed to the Constitution. They will have to look at small

:05:38. > :05:42.legislation. The other point to make is that this will be extremely

:05:43. > :05:47.controversial politically. The left-wing already came out and said

:05:47. > :05:50.they would not support it in any way shape or form. The President has

:05:50. > :05:56.said that he will sell have enough votes in both houses of Congress to

:05:56. > :06:04.get this change through three constitutional reform. -- for a

:06:04. > :06:09.constitutional reform. It will be pretty controversial and close. Why

:06:09. > :06:19.is he doing this? What is wrong with the state of the Mexican industry

:06:19. > :06:24.the moment? Most of the money gets paid to the government. Mexican oil

:06:24. > :06:30.production has fallen by 25% in the past decade. It is down to 2.5

:06:30. > :06:37.million barrels a day. This reform and get back to 3.5 million late

:06:38. > :06:43.2025. In a way, that is pessimistic. It is saying that he would like to

:06:43. > :06:50.be back where he was in 2004 in 2025. Not exactly revolutionary.

:06:50. > :06:54.Thank you. Shares of Canadian smartphone maker blackberry have

:06:55. > :07:00.surged after announcing that they are potentially putting themselves

:07:01. > :07:04.up for sale to revive their fortunes. They have set up a special

:07:04. > :07:10.committee to look at new partnerships as well as an out right

:07:10. > :07:14.sale. It is no surprise that black bree

:07:14. > :07:20.has been struggling with competition from apple and other handsets using

:07:20. > :07:25.the android operating system. Shares have fallen more than 90% from six

:07:25. > :07:29.years ago. There have been rumours about the company's future plans. On

:07:29. > :07:33.Monday, they officially announced that they are considering the

:07:33. > :07:40.options of putting themselves up for sale. After the announcement, shares

:07:40. > :07:43.have surged more than 10% in both New York and Canada. The big

:07:43. > :07:50.question is, who will help save the company? They run many names out

:07:50. > :07:57.there. Analyst say that the Canadian government is quite protective of

:07:57. > :08:03.blackberry. They say despite the issues they have been having, it is

:08:03. > :08:08.an attractive company. They have a collection of very valuable patents

:08:08. > :08:12.and $3 billion in cash was reportedly no debt. It is a fate

:08:12. > :08:14.that many would not have imagined for the company which once dominated

:08:14. > :08:19.the market. A surprise loss for the owner of

:08:19. > :08:25.Weibo, China's answer to Twitter. Sina Corp reveals a $11 million net

:08:25. > :08:34.loss. For more on that we go to Sharanjit Leyl in our Asia business

:08:35. > :08:39.hub in Singapore. What more do you know on this?

:08:39. > :08:49.As you say, it was a surprise loss. That was compared to where profits

:08:49. > :08:51.

:08:51. > :08:57.of over $33 million a year ago. The service has more than 500 million

:08:57. > :09:02.users. It is incredibly popular. It is increasingly looking to access

:09:02. > :09:07.services on mobile devices. The trying to increase mobile offerings.

:09:07. > :09:11.The service has become an important forum for exchanges of opinions and

:09:11. > :09:21.information in China. It has not generated huge revenues for the

:09:21. > :09:22.

:09:22. > :09:31.company. They face lots of competition from rivals. We saw in

:09:31. > :09:39.April that they saw 80% of their service sold. That is expected to

:09:39. > :09:46.generate revenue. Thank you. A quick look at seeing how markets

:09:46. > :09:52.are getting on in Asia. The most part they are up across the board.

:09:52. > :09:56.In Japan, the yen fell on a report that the prime minister is