:00:00. > :00:00.BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with Sally and World
:00:00. > :00:18.Business Report. The Philippines Finance Minister
:00:19. > :00:24.defends the government's response to Typhoon Haiyan and warns rebuilding
:00:25. > :00:26.the economy will take years. Growth slows sharply in Japan, so is
:00:27. > :00:51.Abenomics running out of steam? Welcome to World Business Report,
:00:52. > :00:54.I'm Sally Bundock. Also, a big day for Janet Yellen, she faces a
:00:55. > :00:57.grilling on Capitol Hill. As you have been hearing, it's been
:00:58. > :01:00.nearly a week since Typhoon Haiyan devastated much of central
:01:01. > :01:10.Philippines, killing at least 2200 people and displacing more than
:01:11. > :01:14.67,000. `` 670,000. In all, about ten million people have been
:01:15. > :01:17.affected by the disaster. As the true extent of the human tragedy
:01:18. > :01:20.unfolds, the Philippine government is also beginning to take stock of
:01:21. > :01:26.the economic cost. The country's Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima has
:01:27. > :01:33.been speaking to the BBC. He started by telling us the priority for now
:01:34. > :01:38.is to get aid to affected areas. At this stage, the focus of the
:01:39. > :01:42.government is still on recovery and provision of basic services, such as
:01:43. > :01:50.shelter, water, sanitation and hospital facilities. To put things
:01:51. > :01:59.in perspective, the region that was affected accounts for 12.5% of our
:02:00. > :02:14.GDP. We believe that, based on very preliminary Dato, there might be the
:02:15. > :02:18.production of 8%`10%. `` data. The Philippines economy has been found
:02:19. > :02:22.to be the most at risk, globally, from natural disasters. What is the
:02:23. > :02:28.government doing to reduce that risk? Infrastructure is going to be
:02:29. > :02:34.a key component. We are increasingly investing in infrastructure, 20% off
:02:35. > :02:41.next year's budget. The approach is really to make sure that we mitigate
:02:42. > :02:43.the impact of climate change, to a country like ours, among the top
:02:44. > :02:47.three in the world in terms of vulnerability to natural disasters.
:02:48. > :02:53.There is increasing criticism that the government hasn't done enough in
:02:54. > :02:56.the rescue efforts, that they are not moving fast enough and there
:02:57. > :03:02.wasn't enough prevention. The strength of the typhoon was like
:03:03. > :03:11.the highest category of tornado but multiplied by 100. No country has
:03:12. > :03:15.experienced this. The normal delivery of relief efforts are the
:03:16. > :03:20.local government units and they were at the heart of the destruction. So,
:03:21. > :03:26.all of the capacity on the ground was affected. In fact, there was no
:03:27. > :03:28.communication or power. How long do you think it will take for the
:03:29. > :03:39.Philippines to bounce back from this disaster? Many years to build
:03:40. > :03:44.infrastructure. For example, after a typhoon, with less intensity, it
:03:45. > :03:53.took at least one year to rebuild infrastructure. Maybe this will take
:03:54. > :03:55.more than one year. Some of the infrastructure, under normal
:03:56. > :04:02.circumstances, takes a long time, like transmission lines. You don't
:04:03. > :04:06.build them overnight. That was the finance secretary of the
:04:07. > :04:12.Philippines. Japan's economic growth rate fell
:04:13. > :04:18.sharply in the third quarter, according to official figures out
:04:19. > :04:21.today. Japan's GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.9% in the three months to
:04:22. > :04:24.September. That's a bit better than forecast, but just half the 3.8% the
:04:25. > :04:27.economy achieved in the second quarter. The figures will raise
:04:28. > :04:29.questions about the sustainability of Japans economic recovery, which
:04:30. > :04:32.has been motoring ahead thanks to the massive stimulus policies of
:04:33. > :04:37.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, known as Abenomics. Naomi Fink, Founder and
:04:38. > :04:45.Chief Executive of Europacifica Consulting, joins me on webcam from
:04:46. > :04:51.Los Angeles. Thanks for being on the programme. Put this number in
:04:52. > :04:57.context today. How significant is that drop off in growth? What we are
:04:58. > :05:04.seeing is a slowdown from several quarters of extremely high growth.
:05:05. > :05:09.Many people view potential growth, the rate at which the economy can
:05:10. > :05:14.grow stably, utilising all of its capital and resources, as between
:05:15. > :05:20.zero foot `` zero .5% and 1%. We are still there for seeing a number
:05:21. > :05:24.above the potential growth. The survey of forecasters were seized
:05:25. > :05:30.fairly steady above potential growth to come, especially ahead of the
:05:31. > :05:36.consumption tax hike. So, there's nothing to get overly worried about
:05:37. > :05:39.from this one release. Talking about that consumption is tax hike, it
:05:40. > :05:44.starts in the new year. What impact will that have, do you think? Do you
:05:45. > :05:50.think it will dent growth? Or consumers stop spending? From the
:05:51. > :06:01.time the consumption tax was still put in motion, over one year ago, my
:06:02. > :06:05.outlook for the consumption tax hike was putting consumption ahead of the
:06:06. > :06:09.hike. I think we will see some slowdown in consumption, especially
:06:10. > :06:19.in domestic demand, following the hike. However, it does seem that
:06:20. > :06:27.this administration is well poised to offer additional stimulus. If it
:06:28. > :06:36.does so, the survey of forecasters notes it will `` could be a
:06:37. > :06:39.difference of .5%. The big question is whether Sinn Soave will continue
:06:40. > :06:48.to have the room to implement the stimulus. `` Shinzo Abe. We come
:06:49. > :06:51.back to dependency on inflation. If it persists and we see recovery in
:06:52. > :06:56.profits and tax revenues for the government, it should have a bit of
:06:57. > :07:00.extra room. If inflation stalls, we will see another picture altogether.
:07:01. > :07:06.Very briefly and in maintenance terms, how healthy is the Japanese
:07:07. > :07:13.economy? Abenomics has been in place for a while. What's your take,
:07:14. > :07:22.briefly? Clearly, the economy will turn structurally is not helping at
:07:23. > :07:27.all. `` long`term structurally. Productivity is positive but the
:07:28. > :07:32.growth rate has been declining in productivity ever since the last
:07:33. > :07:36.decade. So, we are still in a situation where Japan needs to
:07:37. > :07:42.recover from that blow over, over 20 years ago. So, I think this is
:07:43. > :07:45.Shinzo Abe's challenge at the moment. Put in place reforms that
:07:46. > :07:50.might cement the recovery once and for all will stop OK, thank you for
:07:51. > :07:57.your time. Moving on. Someone else who has a
:07:58. > :08:00.big challenge ahead of her. The woman the White House wants to run
:08:01. > :08:03.the Federal Reserve faces lawmakers in a hearing on Capitol Hill today.
:08:04. > :08:06.Dr Janet Yellen needs the approval of the Senate if she's to take over
:08:07. > :08:14.from Ben Bernanke after he steps down in January. This report on the
:08:15. > :08:17.day ahead. In choosing Janet Yellen for chair
:08:18. > :08:24.of the US Federal Reserve, President Obama is asking her to set the tone
:08:25. > :08:28.of America's monetary policy. Her credentials are solid but the task
:08:29. > :08:35.ahead of her is anything but. We have made progress but we have a
:08:36. > :08:40.long way to go. The mandate of the Federal Reserve is deserve all the
:08:41. > :08:46.people. To many Americans still can't find a job and worry how they
:08:47. > :08:51.will pay their bills and provide for their families. The Federal Reserve
:08:52. > :08:57.can help if it does its job effectively. But before she can take
:08:58. > :09:03.up her position here, she needs to get approval from lawmakers here,
:09:04. > :09:08.and her reception on Capitol Hill may not be too warm. Republicans she
:09:09. > :09:14.will get hard questions. Criticisms will focus not on her as an
:09:15. > :09:18.individual, generally people agree she is supremely qualified for this
:09:19. > :09:21.position, but a number of Republicans have a number of
:09:22. > :09:26.criticisms of the Federal Reserve's policies in general and by and large
:09:27. > :09:33.Janet Yellen supports the current slate of policies that the Federal
:09:34. > :09:37.Reserve is pursuing. Policies like the $85 billion bond purchasers the
:09:38. > :09:40.Federal Reserve makes every month and keeping interest rates near
:09:41. > :09:45.zero. Letters that will be put in place by the current chair of the
:09:46. > :09:57.central bank. `` measures put in place. She will be challenged when
:09:58. > :10:01.she faces lawmakers on Wednesday. Despite that, she is likely to
:10:02. > :10:05.become the next chair of the US Federal Reserve. The decisions she
:10:06. > :10:13.makes from this building will have an effect on the United States and
:10:14. > :10:18.economies around the world. We will be talking a lot about
:10:19. > :10:23.central bankers in a few minutes when we review the papers. These are
:10:24. > :10:27.the markets in Asia. Japan completely ignoring that growth
:10:28. > :10:31.story. It's very much focused on what Janet Yellen had to say
:10:32. > :10:34.yesterday, ahead of her Capitol Hill hearing about the US economy,
:10:35. > :10:37.implying they will not draw back on stimulus for quite sometime. Sidhi
:10:38. > :10:43.Singh for the papers.