:00:00. > :00:00.a limited military presence. Those are the latest headlines from
:00:00. > :00:00.BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with World Business
:00:00. > :00:17.Report. South Africa's finance minister will
:00:18. > :00:23.deliver his last budget before the May elections. Will it be enough to
:00:24. > :00:26.restore faith in the economy? He promised to restore jobs in
:00:27. > :00:29.France and today President Francois Hollande and the rest of us will
:00:30. > :00:45.find out if he succeeded. The latest employment figures are out.
:00:46. > :00:56.Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. In a minute we'll
:00:57. > :00:58.have a look at the Hong Kong budget. It has released its latest growth
:00:59. > :01:00.numbers. South African Finance Minister
:01:01. > :01:03.Pravin Gordhan will submit his budget to parliament today, as the
:01:04. > :01:18.country heads towards general elections on seven May. `` May
:01:19. > :01:21.seven. One of his tasks will be to convince credit rating agencies that
:01:22. > :01:24.he is not about to loosen the purse strings ahead of the vote, even
:01:25. > :01:26.though President Jacob Zuma's ANC government is under pressure to
:01:27. > :01:29.increase social spending for millions of mainly black people who
:01:30. > :01:32.are still in poverty, two decades after the end of white apartheid
:01:33. > :01:35.rule. GDP figures out on Tuesday showed growth quickened in the
:01:36. > :01:38.fourth quarter of last year, but on a year`on`year basis, it was still
:01:39. > :01:57.only two %, well behind most other emerging economies. ``2%. Let's move
:01:58. > :02:03.on because of all the large European economies, France is the one that's
:02:04. > :02:07.yet to show signs of pulling itself out of the mire. One sign of
:02:08. > :02:09.improvement today would be a fall in the official number of jobseekers.
:02:10. > :02:12.President Hollande said he should be judged on his success at getting
:02:13. > :02:16.more French people back to work. But the figures have gone from bad to
:02:17. > :02:18.worse and no one's holding their breath in Paris. Well over three
:02:19. > :02:21.million French people are actively looking for work. And with economic
:02:22. > :02:24.growth still so sluggish, private firms are finding it hard to pay
:02:25. > :02:27.their labour bills and rise above the latest tax increases. And as
:02:28. > :02:37.Nigel Cassidy reports from Paris, some are giving up the fight
:02:38. > :02:41.altogether. Another day at the office but for
:02:42. > :02:46.these workers it may be one of their last. The direct selling beauty
:02:47. > :02:51.company Avon has lost money for years and is now calling in a
:02:52. > :02:57.receiver. 8000 self`employed representatives have been stood down
:02:58. > :03:08.unless a buyer is found in days. The 127 staff may be made redundant. In
:03:09. > :03:14.IT department, we work on old system and it will be very difficult to be
:03:15. > :03:19.on the IT market. It is like your heart is reckoned for those people.
:03:20. > :03:23.And of course for all of the people it will be hard to find a job
:03:24. > :03:32.because of the situation in France because of unemployment, consumption
:03:33. > :03:35.is low, and so on. The cost of supporting former staff won't fall
:03:36. > :03:40.to the parent company in the US but will be added to the state welfare
:03:41. > :03:43.bill. While neighbouring countries cut state costs, the French
:03:44. > :03:47.parliament has loaded Moron do business in taxes, leaving firms
:03:48. > :03:54.battling to sell off at ugly and keep staff. Wherever there is ``
:03:55. > :03:58.unprofitably. Families are struggling to feed families and
:03:59. > :04:05.about 200 people will visit this food bank in the centre of Paris
:04:06. > :04:11.today. Those who can find temporary work some end up queueing for an
:04:12. > :04:17.allowance of basic food. Outside France everyone is saying we need to
:04:18. > :04:19.decrease our expenses. Until these considerations are taken, the
:04:20. > :04:23.confidence of the manager and employers go back and we will hire
:04:24. > :04:33.people and unemployment will decrease. The situation can change.
:04:34. > :04:40.No the President has offered employers an incentive of tax
:04:41. > :04:45.reliefs. But with taxes in France putting an extra 50% on any salary,
:04:46. > :04:52.companies are not in the mood to take on new workers.
:04:53. > :04:59.Were meagre those numbers in France we will update you. Let's return to
:05:00. > :05:07.our top story. Budget day in South Africa. I am joined from the
:05:08. > :05:14.Johannesburg bureau. What is the finance minister Pravin Gordhan
:05:15. > :05:18.expected to say? He is not expected to be inventive because this is an
:05:19. > :05:22.election year. He will maintain an even keel. He will show how he
:05:23. > :05:31.managed to decrease South Africa's debt, about 35% of overall GDP. He
:05:32. > :05:34.will show the government is accountable for massive expenditure
:05:35. > :05:40.in social programmes. People are looking to see what the current
:05:41. > :05:44.account deficit is doing at 6.5% of GDP. They are exporting less and
:05:45. > :05:48.importing our lot more. The currency has to appreciate it and South
:05:49. > :05:53.Africa is living beyond its means. There needs to be a balance,
:05:54. > :05:58.something he needs to do. It would be great if he could give the
:05:59. > :06:02.consumer a tax break. And give companies some kind of incentive.
:06:03. > :06:06.But right now is not the time to do that because, as I said, it is an
:06:07. > :06:12.election year and they want to win votes. On the one hand he wants to
:06:13. > :06:18.win votes and please the masses, many of whom have a difficult life,
:06:19. > :06:23.rattling with poverty, and yet credit rating agencies outside of
:06:24. > :06:28.South Africa want to see a sharp finance minister with good
:06:29. > :06:33.decisions. As you know, the credit rating agencies have downgraded
:06:34. > :06:36.South Africa's outlook and credit worthiness for the year. That is
:06:37. > :06:42.something for him to think about because it impacts on South
:06:43. > :06:47.Africa's borrowing cost and general perceptions. `` costs. There are
:06:48. > :06:54.discrepancies between wealthy and poor, and it is serious, becoming a
:06:55. > :07:00.welfare state. 15% of people live on welfare grounds. That means 13% of
:07:01. > :07:04.GDP is spent on road poor policies. That is good to win an election but
:07:05. > :07:12.it is not if you want to be a competitive economy. South Africa be
:07:13. > :07:16.coming competitive, they need to ensure the money the government owns
:07:17. > :07:21.is used effectively. That is what agencies want to see. Thank you very
:07:22. > :07:29.much. They will be keeping us up to date. It is budget day in Hong Kong.
:07:30. > :07:32.It's one of Asia's richest cities, flush with billionaires and eye
:07:33. > :07:35.catching skyscrapers, but Hong Kong is struggling with a growing wealth
:07:36. > :07:38.gap. Its finance minister today presented a budget that will attempt
:07:39. > :07:41.to address this problem at the same time the latest growth numbers were
:07:42. > :07:55.released showing its economy grew by 2.9% in 2013. Rico Hizon is in our
:07:56. > :07:59.Asia business hub in Singapore. Always lovely to see you. A very
:08:00. > :08:09.important day for Hong Kong. How is this budget going down and of course
:08:10. > :08:15.the growth numbers? You have 1.3 million, 7 million population now
:08:16. > :08:21.living below the property loan. `` poverty line. Hence the measures to
:08:22. > :08:27.help residents there. The government's initiatives will
:08:28. > :08:30.continue. They will be selling residential sites to provide 16,000
:08:31. > :08:38.units and increase housing land supply to help businesses as well,
:08:39. > :08:42.he is set to waive stamp duty for the trading of all exchange traded
:08:43. > :08:49.funds. On relief measures, the government will reduce the salaries
:08:50. > :08:52.tax this year by 75%. On infrastructure, Hong Kong airport
:08:53. > :09:00.authority will press ahead with a three runway system, costing $13
:09:01. > :09:04.billion, but creating long`term economic development and enhance the
:09:05. > :09:11.island's competitiveness. With these measures, the government expects the
:09:12. > :09:18.economy to expand between 3`4%. A lot of matches put on the table to
:09:19. > :09:27.help the residents and improve the fortunes of the city. A lot of
:09:28. > :09:32.economic news today around the world. We have mentioned France,
:09:33. > :09:39.South Africa and Hong Kong. The markets today are mixed will stop
:09:40. > :09:47.Hong Kong is up slightly. GDP numbers that came out as well. Japan
:09:48. > :09:51.is down almost half a percent. The Chinese currency will be discussed
:09:52. > :09:56.as we look through the papers. Stay with us and they will see you soon.
:09:57. > :10:10.`` I will. Let's take a look at the Health
:10:11. > :10:13.Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is due to make an announcement on the future
:10:14. > :10:15.of the Mid Staffordshire Trust, which became infamous after a report
:10:16. > :10:19.found, what was described as appalling standards of care. Chris
:10:20. > :10:24.King reports. It is the name which came to
:10:25. > :10:26.symbolise everything that is wrong with the NHS, but