18/02/2016 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with

Business battles over Brexit: Would UK firms be better off

Plus, from boom to bust: How Australia's mining towns have found

We start here in the UK with the great debate over Brexit.

As you have been hearing, British Prime Minister David Cameron

is in Brussels trying to secure a deal on reforms that he hopes will

help him win a referendum later this year on whether the UK should remain

Japan suffers its biggest drop in currency. We'll get to that.

We start here in the UK with the great debate over Brexit.

As you have been hearing, British Prime Minister David Cameron

is in Brussels trying to secure a deal on reforms that he hopes will

help him win a referendum later this year on whether the UK should remain

Mr Cameron has called on big business to support him

Many top UK companies have already come out in favour,

but there are also a lot of business people who want out.

Well, let's start with those wanting to stay in the EU,

One big manufacturing lobby group says leaving the EU would reduce

Others warn it would damage economic growth.

According to French bank Societe Generale, leaving the EU could cut

British GDP growth by a half to one percent a year over 10 years.

And that could add to pressure on the currency.

Japanese bank Nomura believes the pound could fall 10 to 15%,

some rival banks think the fall could be steeper.

Of course for UK exporters that might not be all bad news.

So what about those businesses who want to see the UK leave the EU?

Well, on the immigration issue, some bosses say they would

like more chance to look for talent from outside the EU.

We'll hear from one of those in a moment.

Small business groups complain about excessive rules and regulations,

so called "EU red tape", which is an unfair burden on smaller firms.

And some manufacturers think the UK would be better off with its own

independent trade policy, enabling it to strike deals with growing

Let's go back to that immigration debate though and hear now from

The free movement of workers is one of the core principles of the EU. It

says so in the Lisbon Treaty, the text that sets out what the EU is

and what it stands for. For Britain, it means that if EU citizens want to

come and work here, they have every right to do so. If a British citizen

wants to go and get a job elsewhere in Europe, they have that right as

well. But if written in Leeds the European Union, all that could

change. There are currently about 2 million people working in Britain

who come from elsewhere in the EU. That compares with about 1.2 million

from outside the EU. Some recruiters believe that free movement of

workers is crucial if they are to get hold of the talent they need,

particularly in specialist industries. It is vital for the life

sciences industry. It is a global industry and Lynne -- we need to be

able to access the best people, not just in the UK. Research and

development is such a big area that we need to be able to access the

best people throughout Europe and globally. But not everyone agrees

with that point of view. Some employers think that free movement

of workers finds it harder to find the staff they need, and getting out

of the EU could make things a lot easier. We can't select, we don't

have control of migration of people with the right skill set. If we had

a points -based system where we could get IT specialist from around

the world, and advertise those are the skills we need, we would have a

great variety of choice and we would get some amazing people into the UK.

At the moment, it is whatever we can get from Europe. Of course, we don't

yet know whether Britain will leave the EU or not, and if it does, what

kind of deals might be done behind closed doors on issues like the free

movement of workers. But whatever happens it will have profound

implications both for British citizens and citizens of the EU who

are living and working here. More economic worries from Japan,

exports fell 13% last month, that's the worst performance

since the financial crisis. Rico Hizon joins us now

from Singapore. Japan needs this like a hole

in the head and leaves policymakers battling to get re-ignite world's

third biggest economy. Good to see you. They are doing

whatever they can to jumpstart flagging economy, but currently they

have the problem that consumers are buying electronic consumer items.

And everybody else in Asia is being impacted by this global economic

slowdown. Not enough cash to purchase your favourite item, and

the result is the biggest drop since the global financial crisis. In this

latest report, there are growing concerns that Japanese authorities

are increasingly left with few options to revive the stumbling

economy, even as the central bank adopted negative interest rates to

spark momentum. Japan is not alone to suffering this rough start of the

year. We also have the likes of South Korea, Taiwan and others being

impacted by this slowdown. Have you got a cold or something? Yes, my

apologies for my croaky voice! I have a major sore throat! You poor

man! Go and take care of it. Don't bring those germs into the Singapore

studio! We are also in Australia, which

for years has been getting filthy But the collapse

in global commodity prices has The price of coal has slumped

by 60% in the last five years. And Australian coal exports to

China, its biggest customer, are Our correspondent Jon Donnison

reports from Queensland. Thorn in central Queensland Ground

Zero for Australia's mining industry. The state has some of the

largest coal reserves and was at the heart of the country's mining boom.

It is a boom that may yet not have gone bust, but which these days is

certainly providing a lot less bang for the buck. Coal continues to be

pulled out of the ground here in Queensland on a massive scale, but

such has been the fall in the price of the product that many of the big

mines are struggling to turn a profit. And that has hit mining

communities like this hard. Nearly everyone here is connected to the

coal industry, but wages have been cut and jobs have been lost. I'm not

quite sure where boom and bust originated from, but it is certainly

cemented into the mining industry in particular. We do need to work

towards sustainability, and for consistency. And Moranbah has

definitely not seen that. These houses don't look too flash, but

during the boom when miners were flush with cash, this small,

non-descript town, remarkably had some of the most expensive real

estate in all of Queensland, but in the last few years many people have

left, and property prices have dropped by as much as 70%. The town

is starting to struggle now because of that impact on the bottom line.

People don't have money to spend around the town. I am always

concerned about my family and the community's future, I am hoping it

will come back. We always live in hope that we will see a flattening

and potential increase in demand, but there is a way that worry.

Australia's coal reserves are not going to run out any time soon, but

digging it up is one thing, selling it for a profit is another.

Venezuela is raising petrol prices for the first time in 20 years

by several thousand percent, although they will still be

President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised address that pump

prices of premium fuel would rise from the equivalent

Venezuela's economy has been pushed to the brink by the collapse

in the oil price, which accounts for about 95%