:00:00. > :00:23.Britain's national debt set to hit almost ?2 trillion in the biggest
:00:24. > :00:25.jump in borrowing since the financial crisis.
:00:26. > :00:27.We look at Europe's deteriorating public finances.
:00:28. > :00:28.Plus, billionaire and Commander in Chief.
:00:29. > :00:31.Can Donald Trump juggle the presidency and his
:00:32. > :00:55.Also, flying high. A 1.75 billion dollar takeover for the flight
:00:56. > :00:59.booking websites Skyscanner. We are talking debt this Thursday,
:01:00. > :01:02.because across Europe, governments are getting
:01:03. > :01:04.deeper and deeper in it. On Wednesday Britain's
:01:05. > :01:05.finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer
:01:06. > :01:07.Philip Hammond, gave his
:01:08. > :01:08.Autumn budget statement. He warned that following the Brexit
:01:09. > :01:11.vote, the UK's on track for the biggest deterioration
:01:12. > :01:14.in public finances in years and will ramp up borrowing
:01:15. > :01:17.by the most since the 2008 financial Mr Hammond said that government debt
:01:18. > :01:26.will hit 90% of GDP next year. In other words Britain will owe
:01:27. > :01:31.almost as much as the whole Britain's not alone in facing
:01:32. > :01:38.a growing debt burden We all know about Greece -
:01:39. > :01:41.its national debt is approaching twice the size
:01:42. > :01:44.of its annual economy. But Italy and Portugal now also have
:01:45. > :01:48.debts far bigger than their GDP - And France is also more indebted
:01:49. > :01:59.than the UK at 97.5%. Put simply - it leaves governments
:02:00. > :02:07.very vulnerable if borrowing costs start to rise on the bond markets -
:02:08. > :02:11.as has been happening recently. The club of developed nations -
:02:12. > :02:15.the OECD - says governments should As far as the UK is concerned -
:02:16. > :02:44.the Chancellor vowed the situation The forecast is that debt will rise
:02:45. > :02:48.to 87.3% this year, peaking at 90 .2% in 2017, 2018 as the monetary
:02:49. > :02:56.policy interventions approach their full effect. In 2018, 2019, debt is
:02:57. > :03:03.projected to fall, the first fall in the national debt as a sharer of GDP
:03:04. > :03:06.since 2001 and it is forecast to continue falling thereafter.
:03:07. > :03:09.Lorenzo Codogno is Visiting Professor at the London School
:03:10. > :03:11.of Economics - and former Chief Economist of the Italian
:03:12. > :03:22.Good to see you again. I would imagine you are listening to that
:03:23. > :03:27.budget statement yesterday. He described the situation with regard
:03:28. > :03:33.to the debt as eye watering. How worrying is it? The statement was
:03:34. > :03:37.balanced, to be honest. The United Kingdom is facing an unprecedented
:03:38. > :03:45.uncertainty due to Brexit. It is reasonable to have some kind of
:03:46. > :03:49.leeway. The office revised downwards all economic projections which is
:03:50. > :03:55.reasonable in my view. I think there is a risk that economic growth could
:03:56. > :04:00.be even weaker. In that situation I think you need to have some
:04:01. > :04:06.flexibility. I think it is good to have the potential to extend a
:04:07. > :04:11.little bit of a win, at least in the near term. I think it is a balanced
:04:12. > :04:15.statement. It gives the right signals on public investment it
:04:16. > :04:21.provides some support to the economy in the near term and at the same
:04:22. > :04:27.term, yes, the debt is growing but is still within, you know, an area
:04:28. > :04:32.that is comfortable for financial markets. OK. Comfortable now, but
:04:33. > :04:36.how about in the coming year? Thinking more generally about
:04:37. > :04:40.Europe, there is a lot of political risk hanging over Europe and the
:04:41. > :04:45.next few months. An Italian referendum next month, no election
:04:46. > :04:49.in France, Germany and Holland and then Article 50, the button will be
:04:50. > :04:54.fired possibly in March next year which will begin Brexit
:04:55. > :04:58.negotiations. There is a lot of uncertainty ahead. Absolutely. There
:04:59. > :05:04.is plenty of uncertainty ahead. Interest rates will start moving
:05:05. > :05:11.higher. Because of that? Yes. That will not happen tomorrow and, again,
:05:12. > :05:15.it is an unprecedented period for the UK economy. It deserves
:05:16. > :05:18.flexibility. My take is that it was the right decision. Clearly the
:05:19. > :05:25.higher the debt the riskier the situation. How about other European
:05:26. > :05:32.economies. Greece needs to brokerage next tranche of financial help in
:05:33. > :05:35.December. It is being asked for more difficult austerity measures which
:05:36. > :05:39.it does not want to do. And the other economies with exposure to
:05:40. > :05:43.debt, if their interest rates go up how will that play out? There is a
:05:44. > :05:52.big debate amongst economists these days because we are living in
:05:53. > :05:54.unprecedented times with unconstrained monetary policy. All
:05:55. > :05:58.about interest rates in some countries in some areas, those
:05:59. > :06:03.interest rates are below zero. There is a need for some support coming
:06:04. > :06:07.from fiscal policy. I think in the situation of the United Kingdom it
:06:08. > :06:12.is good that there is some flexibility. In other countries,
:06:13. > :06:16.there is no such workability, unfortunately, and therefore these
:06:17. > :06:22.countries have no choice but to have a more disciplined approach. It is
:06:23. > :06:26.always good to get your take on this. Thank you very much for coming
:06:27. > :06:31.in. What is more analysis on that on our website. -- plenty more analysis
:06:32. > :06:32.on that on our website. We are also looking
:06:33. > :06:35.at President-elect Donald Trump. He is being urged to separate
:06:36. > :06:38.himself from the Trump organisation There is no law forcing him to do
:06:39. > :06:44.so - but it has been the past practise of other Presidents
:06:45. > :06:46.for the last 40 years. But if this election campaign has
:06:47. > :06:49.shown us anything, it's that the soon-to-be leader
:06:50. > :06:51.of the United States - These are the most visible parts
:06:52. > :06:57.of the President-elect's empire. Mr Trump says he can
:06:58. > :06:59.be both businessman There is nothing in
:07:00. > :07:02.the Constitution that There are implicit concerns
:07:03. > :07:05.in the Constitution about the corruption
:07:06. > :07:08.possibility but there's nothing that at this
:07:09. > :07:11.level of specificity. This is a practice that has emerged
:07:12. > :07:14.in the United States This weekend meeting
:07:15. > :07:22.with Indian real estate developers already raises
:07:23. > :07:26.questions about Mr Trump's ability to separate his business
:07:27. > :07:29.from the presidency. Donald Trump the businessman
:07:30. > :07:33.has seen conflicts. Casino bankruptcies,
:07:34. > :07:35.fraud at Trump University and even tussles over hiring practices
:07:36. > :07:40.at one of his hotel. If he does nothing
:07:41. > :07:43.come January 20, these entanglements will be with
:07:44. > :07:47.the President of the United States. The challenge of course
:07:48. > :07:51.is Mr Trump is his business. And so is his family which makes
:07:52. > :07:55.claims that his children will now control the Trump organisation
:07:56. > :07:57.ludicrous to many. There's no need to
:07:58. > :08:03.dismantle his business empire but certainly to simply say,
:08:04. > :08:07."I'm going to let my children You know, if we in the States
:08:08. > :08:15.would hear something like this, we would associate this
:08:16. > :08:18.kind of intermingling of government and business as something a feature
:08:19. > :08:23.of a banana republic. The Constitution does say
:08:24. > :08:26.that the President cannot accept any foreign money or gifts
:08:27. > :08:32.without the consent of Congress. Which makes Mr Trump's
:08:33. > :08:35.International business dealings We should expect there
:08:36. > :08:41.to be continual concerns, maybe scandals, maybe
:08:42. > :08:45.hearings in Congress, about the President's
:08:46. > :08:49.business interests, America's foreign policy
:08:50. > :08:52.and even domestic policy. It's all going to be in one big knot
:08:53. > :08:57.and it's going to be difficult For now, Mr Trump seems intent
:08:58. > :09:03.on mixing his business with his presidency
:09:04. > :09:08.but it's hard to see how that approach will keep
:09:09. > :09:12.in compliance with US And it also seems long way away
:09:13. > :09:17.from his campaign promise to drain If you fly frequently you may have
:09:18. > :09:33.used the flight booking website It's based in Scotland -
:09:34. > :09:38.but now has a new Asian owner. Sharanjit Leyl has
:09:39. > :09:52.the story in Singapore. Nice to see you. Who is purchasing?
:09:53. > :10:00.It is none either than the biggest online travel company in China,
:10:01. > :10:07.ctrip.comp which does the same thing for the Chinese market. We saw
:10:08. > :10:14.shares rising as much as 9.2% in extended trading. We said that
:10:15. > :10:20.Skyscanner helps users compare prices across travel sites as well
:10:21. > :10:25.as for flights, hotels and rental cars. The CEO is frustrated with
:10:26. > :10:30.finding cheap flights online and that is why he started this up. It
:10:31. > :10:33.is available in over 30 different languages and we know that this is
:10:34. > :10:38.among the many Chinese overseas purchasers this year in the first
:10:39. > :10:43.nine months of this year. In fact $191 billion and all were announced
:10:44. > :10:44.and a lot of those deals are taking place in the travel and
:10:45. > :10:54.entertainment industries. And very quickly, the markets are
:10:55. > :10:58.still going up in anticipation that rates will be rising in December in
:10:59. > :11:05.December. I will see you shortly.