07/03/2016 World Business Report

There are reports that the gunman is holding a number of hostages.

Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

Now for the latest business news with Sally.

China's "difficult battle" - the world's number two economy

lowers its growth target for the year and plans to overhaul bloated

Plus, weaning Indians off cheaper fuel - the government

tries to strip fuel subsidies from those that earn more.

I'm Sally Bundock - also in the programme another hiccup for the

nuclear ambitions at Hinkley Point - its reported the Finance Director

of EDF has quit because of concerns over how much it will cost.

We will have the details out in just a moment but let's start with China.

China faces "difficult battle" ahead, the words of

Premier Li Keqiang at the nation's annual parliamentary meeting which

began on Saturday, as he lowered China's growth target for the year.

Beijing faces tough questions over its stewardship of

the world's second largest economy and over its financial markets.

The new growth target for 2016 is between 6.5% and 7%.

The International Monetary Fund expects just 6.3% growth this year.

But the country's chief economic planner said China will not

experience a hard landing, despite cutting growth targets.

China's five-year plan included targets on energy consumption,

job creation and inflation, but analysts said details were scant.

And there was a promise to overhaul the bloated and inefficient state

sector over the next 20 years, by bringing in the private sector

to help run state-owned firms that dominate industries across banking,

Yang Zhao is Chief China Economist at Nomura.

Thank you for being on the programme. So, there is a lot of

information, but the target remains for them to try to hit the growth

number of 7%. And yet the one thing that is so difficult to control is

that, isn't it? Yes, I think they would target this lower than last

year, however, it is still quite challenging. The government has

given themselves more room with monetary and fiscal policy easing.

Let's talk about 3% of fiscal deficit as GDP, and 13% of M2 growth

is not an upside from last year's levels. If we look at last year's

economic growth, even with extra contribution from financial sector,

it is still moderate. This year I would think the equity market won't

have another huge bubble again, so those contributions from the

financial market were gone. If we look at the real part of the

economy, driven by real estate and manufacturing sectors, they continue

to slow down. I would say that economic growth will likely continue

to drop. A very challenging target for this year. A very challenging

target for this year and the years ahead. Talk us through your thoughts

on some of the other things they have mentioned so far, ringing in

the private sector to help run state-owned businesses, also more

changes within other areas like energy, for example -- bringing. Are

those discussions encouraging in terms of other plans in the years

ahead? Relatively speaking, it is a little bit more encouraging, because

they have to make some change. The SOE's are not dealing with zombie

companies, which are losing money right now, running in huge losses

right now, so they have to introduce some materialised measures to truly

reduce the extra capacity in those areas. I would expect that more MNA

will happen in the areas of some zombie companies, which will have to

go bankrupt, and be removed from the industry to improve the supply side

a little bit. On that front, I would say a little bit encouraging

compared to the year before last year and last year. Thank you so

much for your time. There is so much more to discuss but unfortunately

our time is much limited. There is much more information on the website

and what it means for the world's second-biggest economy, so take a

look if you have time later. We will discuss it more when we look at the

papers. Let's move on. Now over to another economic

might - India, where the government is trying to coax higher earners

to give up gas subsidies. Millions of Indian families rely

on this support to make their But plans to take it away

from those who can afford it, are proving tricky, as

Sameer Hashmi reports from Mumbai. These cylinders contained the gas

that tens of millions of Indian households use for cooking. A

canister in Mumbai costs around $10. Until last year, this woman would

receive about $3 back from the government for every time she bought

a cylinder. That money was a subsidy, making the gas cheaper.

Now, the rules have changed. Any household where tax records show

someone earns around $15,000 a year or more must now pay the full market

right, and so for this family, who falls into that bracket, the subsidy

has been withdrawn, and she is not happy. The cost of living in Mumbai

is very high, so the difficulties we are going through to meet our daily

needs is different in other areas. So, this policy which has been made

uniform for all will be a little bit difficult for us. Up to $44 million

a year could be saved by the scheme and the government says the money

could be used to help poorer households by cooking gas, instead

of kerosene, coal, would and cow dung. So, not everyone who has to

pay more resented -- wood. When you talk about the small nuclear

families, they hardly use many cylinders each year, which makes no

difference. In any case, we can support these low income families,

why not? This is a way of doing as certain kind of charity.

why not? This is a way of doing as certain kind of For the last year

the government has tried to get consumers to voluntarily give up

this cooking gas subsidy. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, few came forward,

which is why the state is trying to make subsidy is more closely linked

with incomes. The problem is identification. That is a challenge

the government has. Most of the time when you are declaring your income

it is a self declaration. We don't have many taxpayers in the country.

Most of the time if you want to find out, it is a case of us saying

whether we are poor or rich. That will be the major issue when we try

to do these subsidies on income. Without accurate income data it is

almost impossible to work out who should get the benefit, and that

means the thorny issue of subsidies remains a tricky one to grapple

with. Eurozone Finance ministers hold

talks on economic reforms for Greece But there's mounting concern that

Greece's third bailout, worth 86 The EU and the

International Monetary Fund are at loggerheads over the reform measures

Athens must adopt for all parties to The Finance Director of the French

energy giant, EDF, is reported to have resigned in a dispute over its

plans to build two nuclear reactors It's thought Thomas Piquemal was

concerned the 18 billion pound project could put

the company's future in jeopardy. To Asia now, where Sharp shares

jumped more than 7% as investors expect Taiwan's Foxconn to close a

deal this week to buy Japan's Sharp. Sharanjit Leyl is in Singapore

for us. It is nice to see you. It is thought

that the Foxconn deal might be side and delivered this week. That's what

thought, Sally. Indeed, those shares are extending on Friday's gains with

more speculation that Taiwan's Foxconn will buy a majority stake in

Sharp with sources saying the talks are on the right track and that

Foxconn's founder is reportedly in Bangkok taking part in a meeting

sponsored by Sharp. This comes after the last minute hitch over Sharp's

liabilities caused delays, when Foxconn suspended the deal at the

last minute citing this material information. The announcement came

after Sharp's board voted in favour of Foxconn's offer estimated at

almost $6 billion. Well, according to one source, discussions are set

to conclude this week, as you say, with most of the due diligence

already done. Thank you so much and good to see you. We will keep an eye

on that story when it is confirmed, Foxconn's bailout of Sharp. Markets

begin well. Look at that, the price of oil, almost $40 a barrel. It is

continuing to go up. Markets are happy off the back of good news from

the US on Friday about jobs. And also as well, nothing of too

concerned out of the parliamentary meeting going on in Beijing. I will

see you soon as we review the other stories in the papers.