:01:01. > :01:08.severe disruption to road and rail transport. In a moment all of the
:01:09. > :01:22.action from Singapore. A referendum proposal has been proposed. Brussels
:01:23. > :01:27.views free movement as essential to participation in Europe 's single
:01:28. > :01:32.market. Exclusion could spell disaster for Switzerland 's booming
:01:33. > :01:36.economy. Over half their exports are sold in the EU. Swiss employers rely
:01:37. > :01:42.on highly qualified staff from across Europe. They believe they
:01:43. > :01:47.will lose out if they are no longer able to employ whoever they choose.
:01:48. > :01:55.Christian shorts from the bank in Switzerland. -- shall. How big a
:01:56. > :02:00.deal is this? How worried should Swiss businesses and banks be about
:02:01. > :02:05.this? Switzerland is in global and EU competition. If companies find it
:02:06. > :02:13.difficult to hire people from across the -- EU, highly skilled people, it
:02:14. > :02:18.will increase labour cost and the labour shortage and make them less
:02:19. > :02:21.competitive. Even if the relationship with the EU and the
:02:22. > :02:25.access to the market remains the same, it will make them less
:02:26. > :02:31.competitive and that is not good news for the economy. Switzerland 's
:02:32. > :02:37.economy is booming, isn't it? Why bring this in now. What are you
:02:38. > :02:39.worried about? It is booming because the constant influx of highly
:02:40. > :02:46.skilled foreigners from around the EU, many of them are close to the
:02:47. > :02:49.Swiss. The second largest group of foreigners are the Germans who speak
:02:50. > :02:57.the language of large part. Italians are also a big group that culturally
:02:58. > :03:02.close and the Portuguese. They have been making Switzerland competitive
:03:03. > :03:06.and have added skill and made the nation successful even during the
:03:07. > :03:19.crisis. With the influx now being potentially cut off, Swiss money
:03:20. > :03:21.will be weakened. This doesn't seem to be about the economy, but about
:03:22. > :03:23.people having a fear of globalisation, losing their
:03:24. > :03:26.identity. This is what is driving the decision. Nee would -- now we
:03:27. > :03:38.will have to see new commercial agreements and diplomatic agreements
:03:39. > :03:43.with the EU. This is going to be the really interesting thing.
:03:44. > :03:48.Switzerland now has time to renegotiate with the EU. The EU can
:03:49. > :03:52.cancel all of the other treaties, including the access to the single
:03:53. > :03:56.market and the judicial cooperation, all of these things
:03:57. > :04:02.which Switzerland needs. This is going to be the difficult part. The
:04:03. > :04:09.EU has to face are the renegotiation attempts, for example, from the UK.
:04:10. > :04:13.They may take a tough line with small Switzerland in order to then
:04:14. > :04:20.be able to argue with more powerful members like the UK that one rule
:04:21. > :04:24.for all players, with no exceptions. I am sure that we'll talk about this
:04:25. > :04:33.more in the coming months. Thank you. Before the world fell into
:04:34. > :04:48.recession in 2008 there was one area that let out a warning signal. It
:04:49. > :04:51.was the shipping industry. And the key measure that industry uses to
:04:52. > :04:54.track freight rates is the Baltic Dry Index. It sounds technical, but
:04:55. > :04:57.historically it's been seen as a great forecaster of global economic
:04:58. > :04:59.demand. So far this year it's lost half its value. Should we be
:05:00. > :05:05.worried? Jeannie Joye has been finding out. Commodities make the
:05:06. > :05:09.world go round. On the way that they get around is on bulk carrier ships
:05:10. > :05:15.like this. Shipping is the linchpin of the global economy. If there is a
:05:16. > :05:20.slowdown in shipping rates, it signals a storm had historically.
:05:21. > :05:28.The movement of raw materials is tracked here at the Baltic Exchange.
:05:29. > :05:40.It is measured by the Baltic dry index. It has had a rough ride this
:05:41. > :05:48.year. After declining the Baltic dry index recovered that in January this
:05:49. > :05:53.year it fell by more than 47%. China is in some ways the answer to every
:05:54. > :06:00.question. Just because the demand from China is so overwhelming and
:06:01. > :06:04.its impact on shipping. China had gone three period where they have
:06:05. > :06:09.stated their desire to go from an export economy to a consumption
:06:10. > :06:13.economy. It will see a reduction in GDP in the short term with a
:06:14. > :06:21.slowdown which worries many people. The shipping industry faces a
:06:22. > :06:24.serious problem. Overcapacity. We have seen an influx of massive ships
:06:25. > :06:30.on the water, the biggest ships ever built. That has seen a cascading
:06:31. > :06:34.effect in terms of the ships already they are, already being affected by
:06:35. > :06:40.too many ships on the water and are not enough demand for trade. So can
:06:41. > :06:46.the index return to precrisis levels? The head of the index in
:06:47. > :06:50.London is doubtful. I do not think so. It was a special set of
:06:51. > :06:57.circumstances that gave us those kinds of rates. Far too few ships,
:06:58. > :07:00.lots of cargo. I cannot imagine us going back there. Amidst the
:07:01. > :07:04.slowdown in the world 's second-biggest economy, and the
:07:05. > :07:18.oversupply of vessels, the shipping industry faces continued low freight
:07:19. > :07:21.rates and uncertainty ahead. The Singapore airshow opens on Tuesday,
:07:22. > :07:24.but there have already been quite a bit of activity ahead of the
:07:25. > :07:31.official opening. Our man in Singapore, Rico Hizon, joins me now
:07:32. > :07:37.with the latest pre-show action. Aviation leaders are gathering from
:07:38. > :07:42.all over the world to Singapore, hoping to do some major deals. This
:07:43. > :07:48.is Asia's biggest aerospace event. More than 1000 companies from 20
:07:49. > :07:54.countries will be here in the citystate to showcase their
:07:55. > :08:00.products. In the previous airshow in 2012, deals more than $30 billion
:08:01. > :08:04.worth were closed. The United States will have a big presence, it is the
:08:05. > :08:14.feature country this year. Earlier I spoke to the American ambassador to
:08:15. > :08:17.Singapore. It is crucial. We all know that Asia over the next 20
:08:18. > :08:23.years is going to do more business than the rest of the world combined
:08:24. > :08:29.in aviation. We have 163 companies here that represent some of the
:08:30. > :08:34.largest companies to small commercial services companies. If
:08:35. > :08:40.there is a need in aerospace, we have a company that fits that need
:08:41. > :08:47.right now. And US air maker Boeing says that strong passenger growth
:08:48. > :08:56.will be the driver of the manned in the Asia-Pacific region. They
:08:57. > :09:02.estimate that the original carriers will produce planes valued at over
:09:03. > :09:15.$2 trillion in the past in the next ten years. The European Union is
:09:16. > :09:17.expected to offer to lift tariffs on nearly all goods imported from the
:09:18. > :09:20.United States as part of negotiations towards the world's
:09:21. > :09:22.largest free-trade deal. The offer will come a week ahead of
:09:23. > :09:25.face-to-face talks between EU trade chief, Karel De Gucht, and his U.S.
:09:26. > :09:34.Counterpart, Michael Froman, in Washington. Japan posted its
:09:35. > :09:41.smallest current-account surplus for some years. There is a concern about
:09:42. > :09:46.economic growth. Data also showed that the current account balance for
:09:47. > :09:48.December went to the largest deficit on record as exporters failed to
:09:49. > :09:52.reap the benefits of the weak currency. A quick look at the
:09:53. > :10:03.markets now before I go. Quite a bit of corporate news coming
:10:04. > :10:26.out. British Gas is coming under new
:10:27. > :10:29.pressure after the energy secretary urged the regulator to look into the
:10:30. > :10:32.profits being made by the six companies that supply gas into our
:10:33. > :10:34.homes. Ed Davey has written to industry regulators asking them to
:10:35. > :10:36.consider all options, including their authority to break up
:10:37. > :10:37.companies exercising monopoly