:00:00. > :00:18.Growth figures out today will show India is to become the world's
:00:19. > :00:25.fastest growing economy, but is the real economy feeling the benefit?
:00:26. > :00:29.And in our new series on education, we take a look at the importance put
:00:30. > :00:46.Also in the programme: The Lunar New Year holiday is well under
:00:47. > :00:51.way in Asia - Rico Hizon will talk us through the great expectations.
:00:52. > :00:58.Let's start with Newsweek expect out of India. -- news we expect out of
:00:59. > :00:59.India. In the next few hours we will find
:01:00. > :01:01.out how fast the Indian economy grew in the final
:01:02. > :01:04.three months of last year. Analysts will be looking to see
:01:05. > :01:07.if the country, which imports 80% of its oil, will
:01:08. > :01:10.have benefited from the collapse The World Bank predicts India will
:01:11. > :01:14.grow by 7.8% this year, that's the fastest rate
:01:15. > :01:16.for any major global economy. But there's concern the benefits
:01:17. > :01:19.of that growth are not filtering The car industry has traditionally
:01:20. > :01:23.been seen as a guide to how things are going,
:01:24. > :01:42.and Shilpa Kannan was at the Fast cars, new launches and a
:01:43. > :01:46.hopeful industry. After years of underperformance the expectation
:01:47. > :01:53.here is that India's growing economy will finally read of up business.
:01:54. > :01:57.Indian car sales grew by more than 7.5% last year, faster than in any
:01:58. > :02:02.of the other large carp markets in the world -- rev up business. Hoping
:02:03. > :02:06.to cash in on this, global carmakers have spent hundreds of millions of
:02:07. > :02:11.dollars on factories like this one -- car markets in the world. In
:02:12. > :02:16.common with other brands, Nissan uses this one to make cars for
:02:17. > :02:21.export. It is also betting on more Indians buying cars. For now it only
:02:22. > :02:27.has 1.5% share of the local market but it is here for the long haul. We
:02:28. > :02:32.are only around 13 cars per 1000 inhabitants. When you look at the US
:02:33. > :02:37.it is 800 cars for 100 inhabitants, so there is a lot of potential for
:02:38. > :02:40.growth. The pace of growth in India's economy is outpacing the
:02:41. > :02:45.rest of the world and the auto industry seems to follow the trend.
:02:46. > :02:48.While people in cities by cars many worry this rapid economic growth
:02:49. > :02:53.isn't affecting the two thirds of India's population that live away
:02:54. > :03:00.from urban areas. Sales of motorbikes and small trucks in rural
:03:01. > :03:02.India have been weak with back-to-back monsoons leaving many
:03:03. > :03:10.farmers worse off and wary of spending money. That has been felt
:03:11. > :03:15.by businesses like Mahindra Mahindra, the largest battery maker
:03:16. > :03:20.in India. There was some liquidity issues. Frankly the economy is a
:03:21. > :03:26.sleeping giant. One of the reasons sales have not been surging as much
:03:27. > :03:32.as the media think it has is because the rural area has a lot of ground
:03:33. > :03:37.to cover. Sales are a good indicator of how people feel about the
:03:38. > :03:41.economy. Manufacturers hope that optimism at about 2016 will help the
:03:42. > :03:46.industry pick up speed -- optimism at -- optimism about.
:03:47. > :03:49.Most markets in Asia, apart from Japan, are closed today for the
:03:50. > :03:56.Nearly all of the other share markets in Asia are closed.
:03:57. > :04:00.Despite this, Rico is joining usnow from our Singapore bureau.
:04:01. > :04:13.He is working, as usual. Nice to see you. Always a pleasure to be on
:04:14. > :04:18.World Business Report on holiday. He is just so faithful. He loves it so
:04:19. > :04:24.much. The year of the monkey sounds very mischievous. Talk us through
:04:25. > :04:28.the great expectations. A lot of challenges are expected in the year
:04:29. > :04:32.of the monkey. It is a time for celebration right now across Asia
:04:33. > :04:36.and basically an opportunity to look to what the next 12 months will
:04:37. > :04:41.bring. So we went out on the streets in Singapore to see what some
:04:42. > :04:48.business people are expecting from this fire monkey. I feel that in the
:04:49. > :04:52.year of the fire monkey, I work in mobile tech, so I think there will
:04:53. > :04:58.be a trend towards small businesses growing and social enterprise. I
:04:59. > :05:03.wish that the year of the monkey will bring prosperity to the banking
:05:04. > :05:09.industry although I know there will be talented as. I work in the real
:05:10. > :05:12.estate sector and in my opinion the year of the monkey should be quite
:05:13. > :05:18.challenging -- I know there will be challenges. I work in performance
:05:19. > :05:21.coaching and innovation and believe that in the year of the fire monkey
:05:22. > :05:28.innovation will be continuously trending as a topic, not only in
:05:29. > :05:32.companies but outside companies. I am from the hospitality industry.
:05:33. > :05:36.For the year of the monkey the economy is not yet good. I don't
:05:37. > :05:41.think people travel much but we can hope for the best. I am from the
:05:42. > :05:51.legal industry and it has been, in the shipping department, I expect
:05:52. > :05:56.the fire monkey to help us pick up. Sally, you mentioned the fire
:05:57. > :06:02.monkey's mischievous character and this will mean a volatile and rocky
:06:03. > :06:08.time in the markets. There will always be a lot of ups and downs. I
:06:09. > :06:10.absolutely believe you. I think you are spot on. It will be one of those
:06:11. > :06:12.years. Lovely to see you. In a child's school career,
:06:13. > :06:15.the kindergarten years are supposed Nowadays pre-school is regarded
:06:16. > :06:18.as formal training, that should prepare toddlers for the
:06:19. > :06:21.future demands of life and work. South Africa is investing more money
:06:22. > :06:23.in nursery schools, hoping that during these formative
:06:24. > :06:25.years, the artisans and engineers However, with
:06:26. > :06:28.the serious economic challenges that the country is facing, it's hard to
:06:29. > :06:31.determine whether these programmes The BBC's Lerato Mbele has been
:06:32. > :06:55.visiting pre-schools The day begins with a prayer and at
:06:56. > :07:00.the national anthem. Teaching preschoolers to be patriotic and
:07:01. > :07:08.proud is important at this school. Social values are the basis upon
:07:09. > :07:11.which this creche was built in 1963. Across town lies the privately owned
:07:12. > :07:15.Buttercup Preschool. It caters mainly for the children of a new
:07:16. > :07:24.middle class. We will start off with a morning reading and then the
:07:25. > :07:29.creative work, which is cutting and pasting skills, experimenting with
:07:30. > :07:34.colour and form and texture. At $3000 per year, fees at the
:07:35. > :07:40.Buttercup Preschool are ten times higher than those in Soweto and yet
:07:41. > :07:46.the curriculum is quite similar. However, the Soweto creche is partly
:07:47. > :07:52.funded by donors with high unemployment in the area. We must
:07:53. > :07:58.work altogether. Also they give us ten children who are not paying
:07:59. > :08:03.nothing, just to take a child from the street. South Africa's national
:08:04. > :08:07.education system has been described as a national catastrophe and even
:08:08. > :08:11.the minister in charge concurs. In trying to avert the problem a lot of
:08:12. > :08:15.money has been directed at high school education but there is now
:08:16. > :08:20.recognition that perhaps the best place to start is at preschool.
:08:21. > :08:24.Education makes up a sizeable portion of government spending.
:08:25. > :08:27.Almost 10% in total. What we are doing at the moment is to focus on
:08:28. > :08:33.the quality of early childhood development. We want all our city
:08:34. > :08:38.centres to teach the same thing. Eventually we want to produce 30,000
:08:39. > :08:42.artisans by 2030. The government vision is to create a skilled
:08:43. > :08:46.workforce mainly because investors say that poor training and low
:08:47. > :08:50.productivity are the biggest weaknesses in the South African
:08:51. > :08:55.economy. And so as these toddlers play they are not aware of the
:08:56. > :08:55.challenges ahead of them. They trust innocently that their future is
:08:56. > :08:58.guaranteed. China's foreign exchange reserves
:08:59. > :09:01.have fallen to their lowest level in more than three years as Beijing
:09:02. > :09:04.sells dollars to defend the yuan. According to the central bank,
:09:05. > :09:07.China's foreign currency reserves The country has been running down
:09:08. > :09:11.its vast foreign currency holdings in a bid to boost the yuan's value
:09:12. > :09:22.and stem a flow of funds overseas. Germany's financial watchdog says
:09:23. > :09:24.it's shut down the German arm The bank has been forbidden from
:09:25. > :09:28.taking customers' payments, other In September, German prosecutors
:09:29. > :09:31.searched the bank's offices as part of an investigation into tax
:09:32. > :09:49.evasion and money laundering. So, a quick look at markets. As
:09:50. > :09:54.mentioned, most of them are closed in Asia today as they celebrate the
:09:55. > :10:02.year of the monkey. Japan, however, is open 1.3% higher. The yen is a
:10:03. > :10:08.bit weaker. Toyota's earnings out Friday. It is a bit weaker. Shares
:10:09. > :10:09.down 3% because numbers were disappointing. I will see you