:00:00. > :00:19.The Odyssey of the Greek debt crisis continues.
:00:20. > :00:22.Politicians pass a controversial package of tax
:00:23. > :00:33.and pension reforms despite fresh protests against austerity.
:00:34. > :00:47.I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the programme, detail on Facebook's
:00:48. > :00:51.battle with a Chinese food company for the right to use the same name.
:00:52. > :00:57.Greek MPs have passed a controversial package of tax
:00:58. > :01:00.and pension reforms, vital for the receipt of the next instalment
:01:01. > :01:06.It follows a 2 day debate which was held amid violent protests
:01:07. > :01:12.Lets take a quick look at the key reforms the parliament has approved.
:01:13. > :01:15.Top of the list, the government has changed the income tax banding
:01:16. > :01:22.system, meaning that Greeks will now see a larger portion of
:01:23. > :01:27.Pensions are also being hit with a number of benefits being
:01:28. > :01:33.The hope is that this will reduce pension spending from 17 to 15%
:01:34. > :01:45.Dividends tax has also been increased to 15% from 10%.
:01:46. > :01:47.And let's not forget that Greece is already looking to
:01:48. > :01:52.implement spending cuts that will amount to 3% of the country's GDP
:01:53. > :02:00.Later today, finance ministers meet in Brussels
:02:01. > :02:06.Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker explains the background to
:02:07. > :02:21.Strikes in Greece. Once again, they are about the bailout of the tax and
:02:22. > :02:24.pension reforms that the government has promised as a condition for
:02:25. > :02:29.financial assistance from the rest of the eurozone. Since the crisis
:02:30. > :02:33.began, Greece has taken dramatic steps to reduce its borrowing needs.
:02:34. > :02:39.Government spending has been cut by more than 30%, and the deficit has
:02:40. > :02:43.plunged from 36% -- 30 6 billion euros to 7.4 billion euros last
:02:44. > :02:49.year. The government has agreed on further measures, but lenders are
:02:50. > :02:52.not ready to sign off on a bailout package that was approved last year.
:02:53. > :02:55.Euro Finance ministers have warned Greece to commit to further this
:02:56. > :03:02.terrorist -- further hysteric if they fail to reach cutting targets.
:03:03. > :03:05.A do not believe Athens is on court to achieve them. Greece is being
:03:06. > :03:10.asked to come up with additional measures, spending cuts and tax
:03:11. > :03:13.rises of for the 2% of GDP that would be activated if they miss the
:03:14. > :03:17.target. Greece needs the money ahead of debt payments of more than 2
:03:18. > :03:23.billion euros ute eurozone central banks in July. -- due to eurozone.
:03:24. > :03:27.The anger of ordinary Greeks spilling out on the street is a
:03:28. > :03:31.reminder of the political difficulties Athens will face if it
:03:32. > :03:34.does not turn the austerity screws even further.
:03:35. > :03:37.New fears about the health of China's economy have been sparked
:03:38. > :03:39.by figures showing that both exports and imports fell more than
:03:40. > :03:43.Exports fell 1.8% compared with April last year while Imports sank
:03:44. > :03:49.That marked the 18th consecutive monthly decline, suggesting that
:03:50. > :03:55.domestic demand remains weak despite a rise in infrastructure spending.
:03:56. > :03:57.With me to dig into these numbers is Jinny Yan,
:03:58. > :04:02.Chief China Economist at ICBC Standard Bank.
:04:03. > :04:11.Good to see you. We rely on you to tell us whether this is good or bad
:04:12. > :04:15.or ugly, how bad is it in terms of the export - import numbers? It is
:04:16. > :04:19.worse than the market was expecting, but actually I think that the market
:04:20. > :04:23.seems to get a bit more used to negative numbers out of China. We
:04:24. > :04:27.cannot rely on the stronger figures that we saw in the first quarter,
:04:28. > :04:31.that was through more and more credit through bank lending is, that
:04:32. > :04:36.was the old economic growth style. Increasingly we keep continuing to
:04:37. > :04:40.hear voices from Beijing saying that this is not sustainable. First of
:04:41. > :04:47.all domestic demand is still, it doesn't have much momentum, and also
:04:48. > :04:51.external demand is not picking up. We will get trade numbers that
:04:52. > :04:54.continue to look bad. Also I understand the government had been
:04:55. > :04:59.talking about the issue of jobs and the fact that some sectors, where
:05:00. > :05:04.there is just too much capacity right now, like steel there are
:05:05. > :05:08.laying off a lot of people. They are quite concerned about that? We had
:05:09. > :05:13.the you're just before the weekend coming out to say that we need to
:05:14. > :05:17.ensure stability in growth and to ensure that we create jobs, continue
:05:18. > :05:23.to create jobs, and also make sure that there are no large-scale
:05:24. > :05:28.layoffs. That is in fact a sort of an implicit guarantee for the
:05:29. > :05:35.economy, suggesting that we won't get huge policies, for industries
:05:36. > :05:41.for example, the coal industry and the steel industry, and also other
:05:42. > :05:45.industries that are due for the phasing out of overcapacity, but so
:05:46. > :05:50.far we are not going to see large-scale layoffs. And very
:05:51. > :05:53.quickly, foreign reserve figures came through, just explain what is
:05:54. > :05:57.happening with the foreign reserve in real terms? The foreign reserves
:05:58. > :06:01.actually rose. A lot of that was because of the dollar valuation.
:06:02. > :06:10.Without that come without looking at the dollar impact, actually reserve
:06:11. > :06:14.still fell. That means there is still pressure on the outflow of
:06:15. > :06:18.capital in China's economy. So overall, the outlook... ? The
:06:19. > :06:24.outlook is that we are going to see more volatility of the economy, but
:06:25. > :06:28.we are not going to see a new shape of recovery as the government has
:06:29. > :06:32.said time and time again, we are looking for stability within the
:06:33. > :06:37.economy, rather than any expectation of again pick up or a strong pickup
:06:38. > :06:41.in the economy. You put it in perspective for us, thank you for
:06:42. > :06:46.coming in. We will look at markets like to see what numbers -- impact
:06:47. > :06:48.those numbers have on trading in Asia.
:06:49. > :06:51.It's being reported that Facebook has won a trademark case in China
:06:52. > :06:54.against a food company that has been using the same name.
:06:55. > :06:56.The Financial Times says that Zhongshan Pearl River Drinks
:06:57. > :06:58.Factory, which makes items like potato chips, had registered
:06:59. > :07:02.The ruling comes as a coup for the social network,
:07:03. > :07:05.which remains banned in China. Our very own Rico is in Singapore
:07:06. > :07:15.Nice to see you. Fill us in, because this is interesting, given that
:07:16. > :07:21.Apple last week was not so successful. It right. The court
:07:22. > :07:28.victory could be a sign that Beijing's attitude, is indeed
:07:29. > :07:33.softening towards Facebook, which is blocked to China's 700 million
:07:34. > :07:37.users. Any decision to unblock these social networking sites would come
:07:38. > :07:41.with strict conditions. If you look at that position, it is indeed
:07:42. > :07:45.significant, because under Chinese law, a multinational with a globally
:07:46. > :07:50.recognised brand must prove that its trademark is also well-known within
:07:51. > :07:54.the mainland. You mentioned last week a Beijing court ruled that an
:07:55. > :07:59.accessories manufacturer was entitled to use the trademark
:08:00. > :08:05.iPhone, despite the widespread popularity of Apple's iPhone. This
:08:06. > :08:12.is indeed a major decision, and this charm offensive on Facebook founder
:08:13. > :08:16.Mark Zuckerberg may be working, as well is trying to master the Chinese
:08:17. > :08:25.language, he has entertained China's chief centre at his home --
:08:26. > :08:32.sensor, and drove through Cantonment Square. All of this may be working,
:08:33. > :08:35.-- can and square. All of this may be working.
:08:36. > :08:37.In other news, Takata shares fell as much as 3.5%
:08:38. > :08:40.on Monday as media reports suggest more recalls over faulty airbags
:08:41. > :08:44.Sunday's Nikkei newspaper said that Japanese car maker Honda will
:08:45. > :08:49.recall an additional 20 million airbags provided by Takata.Honda
:08:50. > :08:53.shares have edged slightly higher despite the news.
:08:54. > :08:58.Oil prices have jumped because of supply shocks caused by Canada's
:08:59. > :09:02.The disaster has shut half the country's oil sands capacity,
:09:03. > :09:07.More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart
:09:08. > :09:11.of Canada's oilsands, where the fire has torched 1,600
:09:12. > :09:18.Currently both brent and WTI crude prices are up more
:09:19. > :09:48.You can see the news about China not phasing sentiment at the moment
:09:49. > :09:56.which is encouraging. Looking at the currencies:
:09:57. > :10:01.that's all from me that now, stay with this, we will review the
:10:02. > :10:13.newspapers in a minute. The BBC picked up more than half the
:10:14. > :10:18.awards at last night's TV Baftas. Some winners used their acceptance
:10:19. > :10:21.speeches to defend the corporation, ahead of this week's government
:10:22. > :10:24.white paper on its future.