02/01/2017 World Business Report

Let's catch up with the world of blisters bow and World Business

Report. Here is Sally -- world of business now.

Free cash if you get a job or not - the Finnish government tries paying

the unemployed a basic income in a bid to get them back to work.

And with India still reeling from the decision to scrap

the country's most widely used notes, Modi announces plans to help

Starting this year, Finland becomes the first country in the world

2,000 unemployed people in the country will begin receiving

560 euro - that's $585 dollars - every month from the state,

The government believes many job seekers are put off getting a job

because they will lose benefits and therefore be

A New Year and perhaps a new approach to welfare policy in

Finland. It is just an experiment at this stage but one attracting

interest around the world. The new approach involves providing a

standard basic income to every citizen whether you work or not.

That way, those without a job have an incentive to take even poorly

paid or part-time work as they would get to keep the benefit any salary.

The traditional weather system means getting a job usually means losing

benefits. Will be new system actually encourage more people to

work? Nobody knows the shore. That is why the Finnish government has

decided to test it. Two dozen unemployed people will get about

$580 a month whether they look for a job or not -- 2000.

TRANSLATION: We will get information on how this kind of economic

incentive affects people's behaviour. It is valuable

information and more than the current discussion is based on. We

will get some facts. The current discussion is mostly based on

opinions and very strong opinions for or against EU welfare policy.

This way, we are trying to show something more than an opinion. The

Finnish experiment focuses on the unemployed and whether it encourages

people into work. But rolling out a basic income in full would mean

paying it to everyone. Critics say it would be both expensive and would

waste money on people who don't need financial help.

We will certainly keep an eye how that pans out in Finland.

In a New Year's address to the nation,

India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has announced several

hardest hit by the country's decision to scrap some banknotes.

Measures include additional incentives for digital transactions

as well as financial support for farmers who have been hit hard

since the Prime Minister announced in November that current 500

and 1000 rupee notes would no longer be legal.

The government scrapped the notes without warning to crack

down on undeclared cash known as 'black money' and fake cash.

In fact, this black money shadow economy is said to be worth

as much as 20% of India's entire GDP.

Together, the two notes represented 86% of the currency

in circulation, and the Indian parliament is preparing laws

that will make it a criminal offence to hold the old notes

Our business correspondent Shilpa Kannan joins me now

from Delhi with the latest on this story.

It was a disaster in November when this was first announced with very

little notice. Tell us what Narendra Modi had to say in his speech.

Absolutely. It was shocking and there was utter chaos everywhere.

The Prime Minister did acknowledge that and said he is painful to the

citizens who showed patients by standing in the line. But what

everyone was looking for was did all of that hardship really lead to

anything? Was there a big number achieved do this exercise? The Prime

Minister failed to provide any details about those kind of numbers.

He did not tell us how much black money was seized on what kind of, to

this exercise, what did they achieve? Those numbers were not in

the speech. But he did give out a lot of handouts, especially to

farmers who were really hard hit by this whole exercise. The farmers

sector was very badly. There is a crucial agricultural season coming

up and farmers could not afford new seeds of fertiliser, said there were

handouts for them and for small and medium enterprises. Pregnant women

got some money. There were various little handouts. Many said this

sounded more like a budget speech then a New Year's if speech. But no

details on where this money would come from. And also the impact on

the Indian economy. Some have downgraded growth forecasts for

India now because of this move. Absolutely. That was one thing that

many people were pointing out. With the of this whole currency swap

exercise, people were worried about what kind of impact India's growth

will have, and rural economy will be the first one to take a hit. People

in rural areas simply don't have access to so many banks as much as

in urban India. With these kind of handouts, it looks like the Prime

Minister is trying to kickstart the ruling consumption again and maybe

the investment cycle and get a boost from that. Is I clearly seems to be

on rural India. There is also crucial key state elections coming

up. This is just ahead of the election date announcement. Very

populist move by the Indian Prime Minister. Thank you. Nice to see

you. We will see you again soon. Let's talk about one of the things

many are discussing as we enter a new year. That is the big question

of what will be ye have in store for the world's currencies? -- the year.

2016 was a roller-coaster year as Brexit and US presidential

elections gripped investor sentiment.

Our Asia business correspondent Karishma Verswani takes a look

at the past year and what to expect in 2017.

At the start of 2016 it was all about the Japanese yen, and the

hardest working central banker did everything in his power to weaken

again. Nothing, not even negative interest rates worked. 2016 everyone

said would be a tough year for the yen. As all of this was going on,

the Chinese yuan was falling. As its economy became more uncertain,

Chinese companies and individuals began selling more of their cash

overseas. Then came the first big shot, the vote for Brexit. The

Sterling slumped against the US dollar after the UK and expectedly

voted to beat the European Union in June. It lost about 15% of its

value. All of that uncertainty led to more money flowing into the safe

haven Japanese yen, which kept rising, and all he could do was

wring his hands. All of this while, the Chinese yuan kept falling. Then

Trump inflation hit. He won the White House and the US dollar

soared. Good news that the dollar but bad news for emerging market

currencies like the Malaysians currency which at explores bubbles

since the 1998 financial crisis. And through it all, the Chinese yuan

kept falling, even as the government kept pumping in cash to prop it up

-- fell to its lowest level. At the beginning of 2017, the US dollar is

at its strong is level in years. It looks set to stay that way. The

British pound has lost a fifth of its value since the Brexit vote. A

new normal, perhaps? And the Japanese yen, whatever Donald Trump

could do, he did, and now it is weakening against a strong dollar.

What about the Chinese yuan? It looks set to continue its buy much

downwards against the US dollar. For now, at least -- it's much

downwards. She has had a busy 12 months as we

all have at the BBC. Let's talk more about the Chinese government as far

as currency control is concerned. Announcing tighter controls on those

wishing to buy foreign currency. Individuals will now have to provide

more information to their bank with regards to why

they are making the purchase. The tighter controls are part

of an array of measures being taken by the government to curb huge

capital outflows driven by the Yuan sinking to an eight-year

low against the dollar. Let's look at the financial markets.

Pretty much no action as far as the share market are concerned around

the world because nearly everybody is closed for the brain new year

holiday as it were. A bank holiday in most parts of the world -- brings

new. Most markets will reopen on Tuesday this week. But they do go,

you can have a look at how the currencies are faring as we enter a

new year. I will see you send. -- soon.

We will look at the International papers shortly. Let's bring you some

UK news. Five men have been arrested