13/08/2013 World Business Report

Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

Now for the latest financial news with World Business Report.

The president was upbeat, the finance minister less so. The

question - is France back on the path to growth?

Mexico plans to open up its state run oil industry to private

investment for the first time in 75 years.

Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Alice Baxter. In a minute we'll

also look at Blackberry. The phone company is putting itself up for

sale, question is - will anyone buy? France is to publish figures for the

second quarter of the year tomorrow with economists predicting a slight

rise in growth, perhaps signs Europe's second biggest economy is

beginning to emerge from recession. But after some recent upbeat

messages from the president, his finance minister warning this past

weekend the recovery is still precarious and that over the year

the French economy might shrink by 0.1%. Our Paris correspondent

Christian Fraser has been assessing the mood among the Paris business

community ahead of tomorrow's announcement. The stalls of the

original, and biggest flea market in the world. Many of these traders at

setting up for the hope of making a profit. This man says things are so

bad that many of his fellow tenants are on the brink. TRANSLATION: They

are pessimistic. They are on the right to have the shop. They bought

it. Now they are unable to sell it. Sometimes they have to leave without

hitting a penny, just as they can not pay. All this is the time when

many leave the city. At least one third of the shops would normally be

open. The shutters sell the story. Few signs of the recovery that only

four weeks ago the president was confidently predicting. No country

has greater affinity with food than France, and yet the number of people

dining and restaurants last month fell by 13% on the same period last

year. That is a record for. Twin with declining consumer spending,

these figures show the fragility of any so-called recovery. This man

runs a start-up. They are Internet headhunters. A business that can be

seen as a barometer of the national need. People want to invest, even if

the crisis is not over. The IMF suggests that the government stops

raising taxes and focuses on reducing government spending. A

statement the pleasing and fully supports. Until the reforms are done

in the deficit is reduced, will not be in the shape of recovery.

most precious, as he is confidence. It is about the only thing you

cannot find in the stores. Francois Hollande has promised to cut

spending. The Mexican president, Enrique Pena

Nieto, has proposed changing the country's constitution to allow

foreign private oil and gas companies to form partnerships with

the state in the energy sector for the first time in decades. The

changes are part of a package intended to attract private money

into the sector. The Mexican oil industry was nationalised in 1938

and opinion polls suggest that most of the country's citizens would

prefer it to stay that way. Mr Pena Nieto also wants refining, transport

and other related services open to private companies. With me is James

Lockhart-Smith, principle analyst at Maplecroft. This is a bit of a

revolutionary step being taken by Mexico. It is an important step and

you look at it and a historical perspective. It is not as

revolutionaries as investors may hope. These are contracts where

investors would share profits and risk, but not on any assets in

Mexico. That is a crucial point. It means that they are unlikely to book

reserves and they are trying to raise capital for new projects. It

will slow the pace of new exploration and production. This

will be an incremental step towards the regime. So they will share some

profits and risk? A joint-venture. Why is Mexican President Enrique

Pena Nieto doing this? When the former president attended a former

overhaul. This is early days. This is just being proposed. It is a

changed to the Constitution. They will have to look at small

legislation. The other point to make is that this will be extremely

controversial politically. The left-wing already came out and said

they would not support it in any way shape or form. The President has

said that he will sell have enough votes in both houses of Congress to

get this change through three constitutional reform. -- for a

constitutional reform. It will be pretty controversial and close. Why

is he doing this? What is wrong with the state of the Mexican industry

the moment? Most of the money gets paid to the government. Mexican oil

production has fallen by 25% in the past decade. It is down to 2.5

million barrels a day. This reform and get back to 3.5 million late

2025. In a way, that is pessimistic. It is saying that he would like to

be back where he was in 2004 in 2025. Not exactly revolutionary.

Thank you. Shares of Canadian smartphone maker blackberry have

surged after announcing that they are potentially putting themselves

up for sale to revive their fortunes. They have set up a special

committee to look at new partnerships as well as an out right

sale. It is no surprise that black bree

has been struggling with competition from apple and other handsets using

the android operating system. Shares have fallen more than 90% from six

years ago. There have been rumours about the company's future plans. On

Monday, they officially announced that they are considering the

options of putting themselves up for sale. After the announcement, shares

have surged more than 10% in both New York and Canada. The big

question is, who will help save the company? They run many names out

there. Analyst say that the Canadian government is quite protective of

blackberry. They say despite the issues they have been having, it is

an attractive company. They have a collection of very valuable patents

and $3 billion in cash was reportedly no debt. It is a fate

that many would not have imagined for the company which once dominated

the market. A surprise loss for the owner of

Weibo, China's answer to Twitter. Sina Corp reveals a $11 million net

loss. For more on that we go to Sharanjit Leyl in our Asia business

hub in Singapore. What more do you know on this?

As you say, it was a surprise loss. That was compared to where profits

of over $33 million a year ago. The service has more than 500 million

users. It is incredibly popular. It is increasingly looking to access

services on mobile devices. The trying to increase mobile offerings.

The service has become an important forum for exchanges of opinions and

information in China. It has not generated huge revenues for the

company. They face lots of competition from rivals. We saw in

April that they saw 80% of their service sold. That is expected to

generate revenue. Thank you. A quick look at seeing how markets

are getting on in Asia. The most part they are up across the board.

In Japan, the yen fell on a report that the prime minister is