:00:00. > :00:00.latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest financial
:00:00. > :00:20.news and World Business Report. Setting the years agenda - China's
:00:21. > :00:26.leaders gather in Beijing, as investors hope a new round of
:00:27. > :00:30.economic reforms will be announced. -- year's. Growing pains -
:00:31. > :00:33.Australia's economy grows 0.8% as mining takes a back seat and
:00:34. > :00:42.domestic consumption rides to the rescue.
:00:43. > :00:55.Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Maryam Moshiri. First, some
:00:56. > :01:00.breaking news coming from the newswires. We are expecting
:01:01. > :01:06.elections to start in India. The latest report coming out suggests
:01:07. > :01:14.the polling will start on the 7th of April in India. That is a breaking
:01:15. > :01:18.news. Elections happening at an important time for the government
:01:19. > :01:24.during this time of economic trouble in India. More on that story that
:01:25. > :01:34.India will have polling for its elections on the 7th of April. But
:01:35. > :01:37.first, China's parliament has started its annual congress today in
:01:38. > :01:39.Beijing. Some three thousand delegates will attend the National
:01:40. > :01:43.People's Congress for the next ten days. In the first session delegates
:01:44. > :01:46.heard from President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, and from an
:01:47. > :01:52.economic point of view there were a few key topics that were touched on.
:01:53. > :02:01.In the opening remarks, the leaders confirmed that China's growth target
:02:02. > :02:05.for the year will stay at 7.5%. They also said that they want private
:02:06. > :02:08.companies to take a bigger role in the economy and will continue to
:02:09. > :02:10.open up state owned enterprises. The government has also increased its
:02:11. > :02:14.defence spend by another 12.2% taking the total spend to well over
:02:15. > :02:17.$120 billion a year - China now has the second biggest defence budget in
:02:18. > :02:27.the world - the US is the only country with a larger military
:02:28. > :02:30.spend. And finally, as the week goes on, we are to find out more details
:02:31. > :02:45.on how the government plans to tackle local government debts and
:02:46. > :02:51.improve its current fiscal position. What are the main topics on the
:02:52. > :02:57.agenda we need to look out for? Having to do with economic reform.
:02:58. > :03:02.As you said, the growth target remains at 7.5% but it is also the
:03:03. > :03:08.case this is a better slogan and there are doubts as to whether China
:03:09. > :03:12.can achieve that without the regulation improving the efficiency
:03:13. > :03:21.of private firms and trying to break the grip on state enterprises. What
:03:22. > :03:26.sectors might be privatised is important. The other thing is what
:03:27. > :03:31.will happen to the financial. One of the big concern is for China is that
:03:32. > :03:37.in order to achieve its growth rate it is allowing credit to stop the
:03:38. > :03:45.government almost turning a blind eye. To grow as support investment.
:03:46. > :03:54.If that was to happen, that would be worrying. In Li Keqiang's speech we
:03:55. > :04:01.got eight flavour of it. They may unleash some credit but that goes
:04:02. > :04:06.against the idea of trying to rein back local government debt. Informal
:04:07. > :04:12.lending is a big cause of that. Looking at that target, most Western
:04:13. > :04:18.economies would be jealous but China needs to find a balance between
:04:19. > :04:25.growth but also trying to pare back on to strong economic growth?
:04:26. > :04:30.Essentially, 7.5% would be very high if you were a rich country like
:04:31. > :04:37.Britain or the US. But for developing countries, where average
:04:38. > :04:41.incomes are a 000 dollars per year, that is a growth rate needed in
:04:42. > :04:48.order to move them into middle income status. -- $8,000. It is a
:04:49. > :04:55.hard thing to do to sustain eight growth rate that would be nine -
:04:56. > :05:01.10%. Now that China is getting closer to the middle income level,
:05:02. > :05:08.growth is slowing down. That is a hard transition to manage. If it
:05:09. > :05:14.slows down too quickly, China will not be able to break through the
:05:15. > :05:18.middle income. If it grows too quickly, via shadow banking
:05:19. > :05:23.financing and unsustainable investment, it is building up a
:05:24. > :05:27.credit bubble that could burst and that is ultimately the issue
:05:28. > :05:33.underpinning concerns. How sustainable is the growth funded by
:05:34. > :05:37.credit? Another big issue coming through this Congress is corruption.
:05:38. > :05:43.One of the things they are not doing is allowing big banquets and
:05:44. > :05:47.receptions. The Chinese government wants to emphasise they are more
:05:48. > :05:51.transparent, less corrupt and dealing with fundamental issues.
:05:52. > :06:03.Companies should be confident, therefore, in the coming weeks.
:06:04. > :06:05.Interesting times. You will have the latest from the Congress throughout
:06:06. > :06:08.the week. Australia has reported slightly better-than-expected growth
:06:09. > :06:10.for the last quarter of 2013, boosted by exports and domestic
:06:11. > :06:18.consumption. Official figures show that the economy expanded 0.8% in
:06:19. > :06:27.the three months of 2013. Most forecasters predicted growth of
:06:28. > :06:39.0.7%. Rico Hizon joins me now for more on this. The mining sector only
:06:40. > :06:45.contributed 0.1% to the economy. Revival in consumption and of
:06:46. > :06:51.resource export are setting this. This is a sign that is been
:06:52. > :06:56.weathering a slowdown in the mining sector. Household consumption is
:06:57. > :07:02.coming back after a long slow down. Taking it biggest increase in the
:07:03. > :07:08.years. Housing prices boosting consumer confidence. As for goods
:07:09. > :07:16.exports, a lot of it is heading to the mainland. An increase of 45%.
:07:17. > :07:22.The Treasurer said that despite positive reports, the numbers
:07:23. > :07:28.highlight the growth challenges the economy faces in the next couple of
:07:29. > :07:39.years as some mining programmes come to an end. Can the growth be
:07:40. > :07:43.sustained? The aim is to maintain economic growth of 7.5% in China.
:07:44. > :07:49.This is good news for Australia which could lead to purchasers of
:07:50. > :07:52.more resources. One ink on as a spoke to say it could lead to
:07:53. > :08:01.sustained economic growth this quarter and going forward. How much
:08:02. > :08:08.is borrowed from future exports. This could be on the margins but
:08:09. > :08:13.there could be enough exports to support offset the mining sector
:08:14. > :08:25.slowdown. The better than expected data helped the Sydney stock market
:08:26. > :08:30.but also the Australian dollar. Always good to get an update from
:08:31. > :08:33.you. Thank you very much. In other news: Fast food giant McDonalds has
:08:34. > :08:37.said that growing concerns over income inequality may force it to
:08:38. > :08:42.raise its wages. It said the public focus on the issue may intensify
:08:43. > :08:44.over the coming months. But it warned that higher wages might
:08:45. > :08:48.impact its profit margins if it cannot offset them by raising prices
:08:49. > :08:51.as well. Fast food companies have been under increasing pressure to
:08:52. > :08:57.raise wages and workers at various outlets, including McDonalds, have
:08:58. > :08:59.held strikes in recent months. Japan is considering taxing transactions
:09:00. > :09:04.involving the digital currency bitcoin. The Nikkei newspaper
:09:05. > :09:08.reported any taxation would become the basis for guidelines applicable
:09:09. > :09:11.to similar currencies in the future. The move comes following the
:09:12. > :09:17.collapse of the Tokyo based Mount Gox bitcoin exchange last week. A
:09:18. > :09:20.judge in the United States has ruled that lawyers representing Amazonian
:09:21. > :09:22.villagers used fraud to secure a multi-billion-dollar pollution
:09:23. > :09:30.judgement against the oil company Chevron in Ecuador. It's a major
:09:31. > :09:46.setback for the Indigenous group, who cannot now use US courts to
:09:47. > :09:49.collect the award. We have had the breaking news that the elections in
:09:50. > :09:58.India will start on the 7th of April. The rest of Asia doing
:09:59. > :10:02.particularly well. Using tensions between Russia and Ukraine having an
:10:03. > :10:15.impact on US and Asian markets. That is it from me. Bye-bye.
:10:16. > :10:22.In other news: A teacher has been suspended from a school in West
:10:23. > :10:25.Somerset over claims that she stuck tape over the mouths of every pupil
:10:26. > :10:28.in her class after she had told them they were too noisy. An
:10:29. > :10:29.investigation is now under way following the alleged