:00:00. > :00:00.Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest
:00:00. > :00:14.financial news in World Business Report.
:00:15. > :00:23.Fighting for survival. As the Japanese economy starts to falter,
:00:24. > :00:26.so Prime Minister Abe prepares to reshuffle his cabinet and in a bid
:00:27. > :00:27.to re`connect with the unhappy voters.
:00:28. > :00:30.Grinding to a halt. Australia's economy sees expansion slow as the
:00:31. > :00:31.strong currency hits the country's exporters hard and commodity prices
:00:32. > :00:43.weaken. Welcome to World Business Report.
:00:44. > :00:46.I'm Ben Thompson. Also in the programme, we talk to
:00:47. > :00:50.the biggest investor in Ukraine and ask if the country is still an
:00:51. > :00:54.attractive place to put your money. But first: Japanese Prime Minister
:00:55. > :00:57.Shinzo Abe is expected to reshuffle his cabinet on Wednesday in a bid to
:00:58. > :01:00.re`energise his economic and security agenda. Reports say more
:01:01. > :01:03.women will be promoted and that he will invite his closest rival within
:01:04. > :01:09.the party to take on a senior position. Abe enjoyed sky`high
:01:10. > :01:13.public support when he came to power in December 2012 with his approval
:01:14. > :01:19.rating rising to 76% as his economic plan shows signs of early success.
:01:20. > :01:21.However, his Three Arrows economic policy that involved massive
:01:22. > :01:24.monetary easing, spending and reform appears to be faltering now with no
:01:25. > :01:35.obvious solutions in sight sending his approval rating below 50%. A
:01:36. > :01:38.little less than two years into his tenure as Prime Minister, rumblings
:01:39. > :01:44.of discontent in his party are also beginning to emerge.
:01:45. > :01:52.Joining me now live from Tokyo is Rupert Wingfield Hayes. Just looking
:01:53. > :01:56.at the share price, shares have risen to a seven`month high site is
:01:57. > :02:07.the expectation about what he will deliver. `` seven`month high, so
:02:08. > :02:12.clearly. There is a lot of sentiment.
:02:13. > :02:15.(INAUDIBLE) I should say, an announcement won't
:02:16. > :02:19.be made for another hour or so. Maybe the reason the stock market is
:02:20. > :02:27.going up is because everyone knows who the new people in Cabinet will
:02:28. > :02:34.be. Here on this page is a list with photographs of all 18 new members of
:02:35. > :02:39.the Cabinet. This information has been quite extensively leaked with
:02:40. > :02:48.newspapers and indeed, we will see five women in the Cabinet including
:02:49. > :02:53.the most significant, Yuko Obuchi, the economic and trade minister.
:02:54. > :02:56.They will probably have at least five women in the Cabinet and there
:02:57. > :03:00.will be a big turnover. (INAUDIBLE)
:03:01. > :03:08.. The top team around the Prime Minister will remain. We spoke of it
:03:09. > :03:11.in the introduction, this three pronged policy which sounded great
:03:12. > :03:21.and delivered initially, but then the euphoria wore off, why? In large
:03:22. > :03:25.part because it doesn't seem to be working, at least it isn't working
:03:26. > :03:30.as fast or effectively as it might. We are months into the
:03:31. > :03:34.(INAUDIBLE) . Huge amounts of money was pumped
:03:35. > :03:40.into the economy three infrastructure and this campaign of
:03:41. > :03:49.monetary easing by the central bank. (INAUDIBLE)
:03:50. > :03:53.It has pushed down the value of the yen. Apologies, we will leave you
:03:54. > :03:57.there, sorry we have had technical problems with the line and we will
:03:58. > :04:02.try to get back to him later. In the meantime, Australia's economic
:04:03. > :04:04.growth slowed in the last quarter as the currency strengthened and
:04:05. > :04:07.commodity prices weakened. Despite efforts by the central bank to keep
:04:08. > :04:11.rates low to boost domestic demand, the latest GDP reading came in at
:04:12. > :04:14.0.5%, down from growth of 1.1% in the first quarter. The news comes
:04:15. > :04:16.just a day after the government announced plans to scrap the
:04:17. > :04:24.country's controversial mining tax. Let's get more from Rico Hizon. He's
:04:25. > :04:31.live in our Asia business hub for us now. Good to see you. Talk us
:04:32. > :04:39.through this. Is this a sign of continued weakness in Australia? The
:04:40. > :04:45.Saab part performance is forecast to last for another few months as the
:04:46. > :04:52.economy weather is the winding down of the decade`long boom in mining
:04:53. > :04:57.investment, which is a major reason why markets expect interest rates to
:04:58. > :05:02.remain at record lows of 2.5% well into 2015 `` sub par performance.
:05:03. > :05:06.That is why investors have wagered that if there is a move, it will be
:05:07. > :05:11.another downward trend in the cost of borrowing. That is why in late
:05:12. > :05:15.Sydney trade we have seen Australia's main share index in
:05:16. > :05:21.positive territory by more than five points, despite the slow data. Yet,
:05:22. > :05:26.more timely numbers suggest the current quarter has seen a pickup in
:05:27. > :05:33.growth with businesses reporting rising sales and retailers enjoying
:05:34. > :05:37.better times. Double`digit increases in housing prices have increased
:05:38. > :05:39.consumer wealth and spending in the face of sluggish wages while
:05:40. > :05:47.encouraging a surge in home building. This drag on growth was a
:05:48. > :05:52.sharp rebound in imports mainly of capital goods while exports dipped
:05:53. > :05:57.slightly. More worrying was a steep fall in prices for Australia's wager
:05:58. > :06:02.commodity exporter, notably iron ore which took a heavy toll on minor's
:06:03. > :06:09.income. Currently the numbers we see is a mixed bag `` miners' income. We
:06:10. > :06:15.expect economic growth to pick up and have consistent trajectory by
:06:16. > :06:21.mid` next year. OK, good to talk to you. More on that a little later.
:06:22. > :06:24.Russia isn't the only one grappling with a weakening economy. Ukrainian
:06:25. > :06:26.President Petro Poroshenko is due to address a conference in London on
:06:27. > :06:29.Wednesday to encourage businesses to invest in his country. He's likely
:06:30. > :06:32.to highlight Ukraine's well`educated labour force, large domestic market,
:06:33. > :06:34.and access to a variety of resources including some of Europe's best
:06:35. > :06:38.agricultural land and significant coal reserves. But the IMF warned on
:06:39. > :06:40.Tuesday that it could need billions of dollars in additional support if
:06:41. > :06:49.the fighting between the military and separatists continues. So why
:06:50. > :06:56.would anyone invest there now? With me now is Sevki Acuner, Ukraine
:06:57. > :07:01.Country Manager for the EBRD. The development bank is the single
:07:02. > :07:11.largest investor in the Ukraine. Welcome to World Business Report.
:07:12. > :07:14.Times must have been tough recently. Tough and interesting apart from the
:07:15. > :07:18.treacherous territorial integrity of Ukraine that we have seen in the
:07:19. > :07:24.east. The financial and economic adjustment programme the country is
:07:25. > :07:30.going through under the IMF is making it a challenging and
:07:31. > :07:34.interesting investment area. We continue to be strongly engaged in
:07:35. > :07:39.Ukraine. We are the single largest investor. This year, we intend to
:07:40. > :07:42.invest approximately 1 billion euros of new investments in the country
:07:43. > :07:48.across a variety of sectors including public sector and other
:07:49. > :07:57.projects. We touched on there in the introduction, one of the attractive
:07:58. > :08:00.parts of Ukraine, coal, the second`largest producer of coal in
:08:01. > :08:04.Europe, yet there are suggestions it could run out of coal in three
:08:05. > :08:09.weeks. If you are facing such infrastructure problems, that makes
:08:10. > :08:12.basic is must difficult, never mind foreign investment. Don't forget
:08:13. > :08:21.that Ukraine has plenty of coal resources in the western part. It is
:08:22. > :08:25.true that at present the mines are under threat and they aren't
:08:26. > :08:34.operating at full capacity. An overwhelming portion of the country
:08:35. > :08:40.is functioning normally. I hope this is a temporary difficulty that the
:08:41. > :08:45.country is having to cope with until this issue is resolved. You deal
:08:46. > :08:49.with foreign investment. We are hearing mixed messages from Kiev
:08:50. > :08:56.about what investment they want and what sort of investment is needed in
:08:57. > :09:04.infrastructure. How hard is it to make investment decisions when there
:09:05. > :09:07.is such volatility? The message is clear in the sense that the
:09:08. > :09:13.government is very strictly committed to the reform programme
:09:14. > :09:19.under the IMF as a mentioned. However, for the businesses, the
:09:20. > :09:24.adjustment that the financial system is going through is making it
:09:25. > :09:29.difficult to plan far ahead of time. Nevertheless, the country's inherent
:09:30. > :09:33.strengths are there and the country's commitment to be part of
:09:34. > :09:37.the Western economy, the European economy is clear. That is why I
:09:38. > :09:42.think this conference is important to pass the message once again to
:09:43. > :09:47.the European and international investors that Ukraine's inherent
:09:48. > :09:52.strengths aren't diminished by these temporary difficulties. Certainly
:09:53. > :10:04.something to watch. Thank you very much indeed, from the EBRD.
:10:05. > :10:07.In other news, The US reported a surge in manufacturing output in
:10:08. > :10:09.August, helping to support growth in the world's largest economy. The
:10:10. > :10:14.Institute for Supply Management's index unexpectedly climbed to 59 `
:10:15. > :10:17.its highest level since March 2011. Home Depot is investigating a
:10:18. > :10:19.possible security breach that could have leaked shoppers credit cards
:10:20. > :10:22.details. Several banks say they've uncovered evidence that Home Depot
:10:23. > :10:26.may be the Origin of a new batch of stolen payment card information. The
:10:27. > :10:29.cards were posted for sale on the black market on Tuesday morning.
:10:30. > :10:42.That is all your business from us. Much more next including a look at
:10:43. > :10:47.the papers. I will see you soon. Welcome back. A bid to safeguard
:10:48. > :10:51.England's wildflower meadows is backfiring