:00:00. > :00:19.As more countries cancel flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt,
:00:20. > :00:21.we look at the devastating effects on the country's already embattled
:00:22. > :00:28.And it is the first Friday of the month, and guess what,
:00:29. > :00:32.As always, very important, but today's numbers even more so.
:00:33. > :00:45.Welcome to World Business Report, I'm Aaron Heslehurst.
:00:46. > :00:47.But first: More countries have joined the UK
:00:48. > :00:54.in curbing travel to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
:00:55. > :00:57.The governments of France, Belgium and the Netherlands warned
:00:58. > :00:59.their nationals not to travel, and German airlines cancelled flights.
:01:00. > :01:01.This is, of course, devastating news for Egypt's already
:01:02. > :01:17.In 2014, tourism contributed $36 billion to the country's economy.
:01:18. > :01:21.That is 12.8% of total economic output.
:01:22. > :01:29.One in nine depend on it for work, according to the World Travel
:01:30. > :01:37.Last year a total of 9.9 million people visited Egypt.
:01:38. > :01:44.Russia is the biggest source, then the UK and Germany.
:01:45. > :01:47.But revenues from famous Egyptian monuments, such as the pyramids,
:01:48. > :01:59.have plunged by 95% since Egypt's 2011 revolution.
:02:00. > :02:01.With me is Farouk Soussa, chief economist for the Middle East
:02:02. > :02:19.Thank you for coming out this horrible hour. Let's start with
:02:20. > :02:24.this. I was just reading earlier this morning that the Egyptian
:02:25. > :02:27.government is planning to open, unveil if you will, three tombs that
:02:28. > :02:30.have never been seen before by tourists. They want to do this to
:02:31. > :02:35.attract more people. I'm thinking they're going to need a lot more
:02:36. > :02:41.than three tombs. It is not that there is not enough to see in Egypt,
:02:42. > :02:49.the issue is security. To be honest, more needs to be done. I think more
:02:50. > :02:54.needs to be done on the security front in order to attract tourism.
:02:55. > :02:59.Any country with tourism is vulnerable to these attacks. It is
:03:00. > :03:03.an under it exploited industry. There is plenty in Egypt and plenty
:03:04. > :03:07.of infrastructure and improvements that can be improved in order to
:03:08. > :03:10.grow the tourism sector so I think more can be done by the Egyptian
:03:11. > :03:14.authorities. The tragedy of what has been done now, apart from the loss
:03:15. > :03:17.of life, from the Egyptian government's respect it is that they
:03:18. > :03:22.were trying to grow the tourism industry, and now I think that is at
:03:23. > :03:27.peril. Some of those numbers I was reading out were already down
:03:28. > :03:31.anyway. They sound like a lot, 36 billion, and 3 million people get
:03:32. > :03:35.jobs through tourism but they are already down because 2011 basically
:03:36. > :03:40.wiped tourism. So is this the nail on the cough and for that so? Well,
:03:41. > :03:46.Egypt is always going to attract a certain base level of tourism --
:03:47. > :03:51.nail in the coffin. It is today 13% of the economy. Before 2011 it was
:03:52. > :03:56.closer to 21 or 22% of the economy. It brought in $10 billion in 2010,
:03:57. > :04:00.last year it brought in $8 billion. So the tourism industry is already
:04:01. > :04:05.pretty much on its knees. Now, is this going to be the final nail in
:04:06. > :04:10.the cough and? I would argue it has already been battered and beaten --
:04:11. > :04:13.nail in the coffin. What we are seeing is the difficulty maintaining
:04:14. > :04:17.momentum in tourism going forward rather than a massive blow to the
:04:18. > :04:20.Egyptian economy which has already happened. And you mentioned the
:04:21. > :04:28.government were working on revitalising, I guess, that sect.
:04:29. > :04:30.The challenge, though, off the back of what we have seen for the
:04:31. > :04:34.Egyptian government is rebuilding the trust to the people -- that
:04:35. > :04:38.sector. You would think if you depend on tourism so much you would
:04:39. > :04:41.think you would pretty much throw the kitchen sink at the problem to
:04:42. > :04:45.show they are doing everything about security possible. Yes, I am no
:04:46. > :04:50.security expert or anything like that but I would say that it is very
:04:51. > :04:56.difficult to be 100% effective and it just takes one attack in order to
:04:57. > :05:04.undermine confidence in the security arrangements, and people who think
:05:05. > :05:10.there is a one in 1000 chance this might happen to me, they will go
:05:11. > :05:11.somewhere else. We will speak to you again. Thank you very much for
:05:12. > :05:12.coming in. US President Barack Obama has
:05:13. > :05:14.formally notified Congress of his intent to sign
:05:15. > :05:16.the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is one
:05:17. > :05:19.of the world's most extensive trade agreements, accounting for about 40%
:05:20. > :05:22.of the global economy, and the text Mariko Oi is in our
:05:23. > :05:42.Asia Business Hub in Singapore. Great to see you. I believe that
:05:43. > :05:52.text is 6000 pages, and I assume you read every one of them. All of
:05:53. > :05:57.them... Not. But transparency or the -- rather the lack of it has been
:05:58. > :06:01.one of the issues with this trade deal. And what is interesting is
:06:02. > :06:08.that currency manipulation got quite a lot of mentions so now member
:06:09. > :06:11.countries have to commit by the IMF, the International monetary fund,
:06:12. > :06:15.that they would not cheapen their own currencies for competitive
:06:16. > :06:19.advantages. But it didn't go as far as to say what kind of punishment or
:06:20. > :06:21.sanction can be applied, which is what some of the American
:06:22. > :06:26.manufacturers like Ford were demanding. And of course, China
:06:27. > :06:30.isn't part of it and China has been criticised by the US for its
:06:31. > :06:33.currency policies. So there's a lot of question about that. And also
:06:34. > :06:39.some uncertainty about how Labour laws would work, for example if
:06:40. > :06:43.America's minimum wage has to apply to other member states like
:06:44. > :06:46.Vietnam, highly unlikely, and other main sticking points like
:06:47. > :06:50.intellectual property. There are still some uncertainties about it.
:06:51. > :06:55.But having said all that, it is not a done deal at all. Even though
:06:56. > :06:59.President Obama has now notified Congress, for example, presidential
:07:00. > :07:03.candidate Hillary Clinton is actually against the deal. So
:07:04. > :07:07.whether President Obama can get it ratified in the US and whether other
:07:08. > :07:13.countries can do so as well remains to be seen. It is getting closer but
:07:14. > :07:17.still some work to be done. I am taking my 6000 pages home. A little
:07:18. > :07:18.bedside reading. Riveting, riveting stuff.
:07:19. > :07:21.Later today, we will hear how the US jobs market is faring,
:07:22. > :07:25.and it is being billed as the key indicator as to whether the Fed is
:07:26. > :07:28.The crystal ball-gazers are forecasting 184,000 new jobs
:07:29. > :07:40.So will it be enough for the boss of America's central bank,
:07:41. > :07:43.Janet Yellen, or the markets, to think the economy is healthy
:07:44. > :07:45.Remember, Ms Yellen told a congressional
:07:46. > :07:49.hearing on Wednesday that a December rate rise is alive and well.
:07:50. > :07:51.Jeremy Cook, chief economist at World First, joins me now
:07:52. > :08:06.You know, as I do. We have been talking about this until we were
:08:07. > :08:10.blue in the face about this rate rise. We say they are very
:08:11. > :08:13.important, but this has to be the most important, surely? It has to be
:08:14. > :08:17.the most important meeting we have ever had. If you look at how long it
:08:18. > :08:22.has been since the Federal reserve has actually hiked rates, back to
:08:23. > :08:24.2006, it is obvious the very big seachange away from the ultra-
:08:25. > :08:28.accommodative policy that we have had in most central banks since the
:08:29. > :08:31.financial crisis. If the Federal reserve believes that the US economy
:08:32. > :08:35.and the world economy is stable enough to start hiking rates than
:08:36. > :08:39.that means that we have finally exited the global financial crisis.
:08:40. > :08:43.And just briefly, we look at a rate rise and we think that thing, it is
:08:44. > :08:47.a sign of a healthy economy. But certainly if they do trigger that
:08:48. > :08:50.rate up, we look at some of the Asian economies or emerging
:08:51. > :08:55.economies, especially some who are holding dollar debt, and that could
:08:56. > :08:59.be some pain for them. That's right, what is good for the US goose may
:09:00. > :09:04.not be good for the emerging market gander. We know that when US rates
:09:05. > :09:08.were very low, leveraged up on US dollar debt, and obviously given the
:09:09. > :09:13.falls we have seen in emerging market currencies in the last 15 or
:09:14. > :09:18.16 or 17 months, those repayments have become a lot more. You have to
:09:19. > :09:22.think that a stronger US dollar will as a result of rate increases
:09:23. > :09:26.increase that owner as burden on those emerging market corporate. It
:09:27. > :09:32.is something to definitely watch out for in 2016. Short and sweet, but we
:09:33. > :09:33.always appreciated. I to get this in. The Germans are at it again!
:09:34. > :09:35.They are almost like the French. In other news: Lufthansa's main
:09:36. > :09:38.cabin crew union has called a weeklong strike,
:09:39. > :09:40.starting today at 11:00am GMT, after last-minute talks between staff and
:09:41. > :09:42.management over early retirement Lufthansa,
:09:43. > :09:46.which has taken a $141 million hit to profits from strikes so far this
:09:47. > :09:49.year, said because the union was not providing any details of the strike
:09:50. > :09:53.until Friday, it could not yet work Don't forget you can get
:09:54. > :09:56.in touch with me and some I will be back taking a look at the
:09:57. > :10:00.papers with Ben. Universities will be able to
:10:01. > :10:03.increase fees above the current maximum of ?9,000 a year, if they
:10:04. > :10:06.can demonstrate high-quality Government proposals for the future
:10:07. > :10:10.of higher education in England would