:00:00. > :00:15.Now for the latest financial news with Ben and World Business Report.
:00:16. > :00:17.Brazil is releasing its latest growth figures later,
:00:18. > :00:20.and they're expected to show that the country's struggling economy is
:00:21. > :00:25.So, can planned economic reforms end Brazil's worst recession
:00:26. > :00:36.And could there be relief for Japanese consumers? Prime Minister
:00:37. > :00:42.Shinzo Abe is poised to delay another rise in the sales tax.
:00:43. > :00:46.Coming up: is Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
:00:47. > :00:53.giving up on fiscal reform by postponing a sales tax rise?
:00:54. > :00:56.Brazil is releasing its latest economic figures later, which
:00:57. > :00:59.will probably show that one of the world's largest emerging economies
:01:00. > :01:02.Brazil's economy shrank by 3.8% last year and a similar
:01:03. > :01:07.Last month President Dilma Rousseff was suspended from office, she is
:01:08. > :01:08.awaiting trial for charges of doctoring government accounts.
:01:09. > :01:11.A new temporary government has been trying to implement policy changes
:01:12. > :01:27.But the country's new acting president Michel Temer certainly has
:01:28. > :01:36.his work cut out, as Daniel Gallas reports from Sao Paulo.
:01:37. > :01:43.He smiles a lot and tries to project confidence, but it is clear that
:01:44. > :01:46.Rizal's acting president has tough days ahead of him. In his first
:01:47. > :01:52.visit to Congress to propose economic reforms, angry politicians
:01:53. > :01:58.accused him of staging a coup. These are some of those who will get to
:01:59. > :02:01.vote on his plans. He assembled a team of well-known executives to get
:02:02. > :02:08.Brazil out of its worse recession in decades. Brazil needs to make
:02:09. > :02:13.savings of about $50 billion per year, so Michel Temer wants to open
:02:14. > :02:17.up the oil sector to foreign firms and make it less reliant on
:02:18. > :02:20.government investment. He also wants a law that limits government
:02:21. > :02:24.spending, and wants pension reforms that make resilience work longer and
:02:25. > :02:32.retire later. Consumers and investors don't believe Brazil will
:02:33. > :02:35.be able in the long run to pay off its debt without printing more
:02:36. > :02:39.money, which would cause inflation, which is why fewer people are
:02:40. > :02:43.willing to invest in this economy. To change that, the government needs
:02:44. > :02:48.to show it is committed to making deep cuts in its budget. That may
:02:49. > :02:51.not so easy right now. This economist says it will take years
:02:52. > :02:57.for Brazil to fix its problems and there is no guarantee these reforms
:02:58. > :03:03.will be seen through until the end. We don't know if we are going to win
:03:04. > :03:07.the elections in 2018, and if this new president will continue the
:03:08. > :03:12.adjustments that Michel Temer is trying to implement. It will be even
:03:13. > :03:19.harder to get support from the streets. Brazil's largest trade
:03:20. > :03:22.union, representing 20 million workers, says it will not accept
:03:23. > :03:27.anything coming from a government that they accused of plotting a coup
:03:28. > :03:35.to seize power. The leader says his union will stage many more protests
:03:36. > :03:39.like this. Workers are the ones who are really affected, they want to
:03:40. > :03:45.end our pension system, just like what happened in Greece. Michel
:03:46. > :03:48.Temer may try to ride out the protests, but even if he gets his
:03:49. > :03:55.way in the end it is still far from clear whether his reforms will be
:03:56. > :03:57.enough to get Rizal growing again. -- Brazil.
:03:58. > :04:00.And from reforms in Brasil, to reforms in Japan, where
:04:01. > :04:02.in a few hours time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is
:04:03. > :04:05.expected to announce a delay to a planned sales-tax increase.
:04:06. > :04:09.The sales tax is one of the key planks of Mr Abe's promised
:04:10. > :04:11.reforms, aimed at kick-starting his country's ailing economy.
:04:12. > :05:22.Harumi Taguchi, Priciple Economist at IHS Economics
:05:23. > :05:41.Is he right to delay, if that is indeed what he does later? Could you
:05:42. > :05:52.please repeat the question. Would Shinzo Abe the right if he decides
:05:53. > :06:03.to delay the sales tax? From my point of view, he should increase
:06:04. > :06:08.the tax as planned, however, recently he decided to delay attacks
:06:09. > :06:18.increase. Because of economic weakness. The government has decided
:06:19. > :06:32.to implement 788 billion yen stimulus plans to support the
:06:33. > :06:39.government after the earthquake. However, the downsizing of the
:06:40. > :06:48.economy and the stronger yen on top of that earthquake disaster, has
:06:49. > :06:53.increased the downside risks to weaken the Japanese economy. You say
:06:54. > :07:00.you think he should go ahead with the sales tax increase, but the last
:07:01. > :07:11.time the sales tax went up it hit growth. Yes, actually, the impact of
:07:12. > :07:20.the last tax increase was more than we expected. But in terms of
:07:21. > :07:28.consumer spending, declining after the tax increase, is about the same
:07:29. > :07:38.impact after the 1970s -- 1997 tax increase. The prolonged weakness is
:07:39. > :07:44.caused by the rate increase, it is not from the consumer tax increase.
:07:45. > :07:50.Thank you very much, good to have you with us.
:07:51. > :07:54.Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank have said it will sell
:07:55. > :07:57.at least $7.9bn of its shares in Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba.
:07:58. > :07:59.SoftBank is the major shareholder in Alibaba,
:08:00. > :08:02.and its stake will fall to about 28% of the Chinese firm.
:08:03. > :08:12.Softbank shares climbed 3.5% on the news to a near 6-month high.
:08:13. > :08:15.The unemployment rate in the eurozone held steady in April
:08:16. > :08:17.Within the bloc the highest rates were in Greece
:08:18. > :08:20.and Spain, both of which saw unemployment rates of over 20%.
:08:21. > :08:22.Inflation meanwhile remained negative for a fourth consecutive
:08:23. > :08:26.It highlights the struggle facing policy makers to stoke spending
:08:27. > :08:50.France faces another week of disruption
:08:51. > :08:52.as unions continue their protests against planned labour reforms.
:08:53. > :08:55.Railway workers begin a strike today, which is expected to further
:08:56. > :08:58.disrupt a transport network already suffering from a shortage of fuel.
:08:59. > :09:00.Staff on the Paris metro begin indefinite action on Thursday,
:09:01. > :09:04.while Air France pilots have also voted to go on strike over pay.
:09:05. > :09:06.Australia's economy grew at a better-than-expected 1.1%
:09:07. > :09:09.in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the previous quarter,
:09:10. > :09:11.boosted by exports and a rise in household spending.
:09:12. > :09:37.Very impressive numbers, you have 3.1% growth year on year, expansion
:09:38. > :09:42.quarter on quarter. Boosted by exploits in household goods. That is
:09:43. > :09:47.along with finance and retail trade industries. I'm going to say this is
:09:48. > :09:51.a big relief for the government as the economy has been rebalancing
:09:52. > :09:58.after struggling since the mining boom, mainly due from the slowdown
:09:59. > :10:05.in demand from China. As a result, the Australian government gaining by
:10:06. > :10:08.half a percent, and economists are saying this should reduce the need
:10:09. > :10:12.for further interest-rate cuts forward. Australians will be going
:10:13. > :10:19.to the polls on the second of July, and analysts say the government will
:10:20. > :10:32.indeed be putting the best possible spin on it.
:10:33. > :10:33.Let's look at the markets. The Asian markets still in negative