:00:00. > :00:22.It's budget day in the UK, with the Chancellor poised
:00:23. > :00:28.But how much money has he got to hand out and who will get it?
:00:29. > :00:30.And what does the boss of Renault-Nissan think
:00:31. > :00:41.He gets a grilling from Simon Jack at the Geneva Motor Show.
:00:42. > :00:46.Also in the programme, a Chinese telecoms company gets
:00:47. > :00:48.slammed with the biggest fine ever by the US
:00:49. > :00:57.for braking sanctions against Iran and North Korea.
:00:58. > :01:04.The Chancellor of the Exchequer, or UK Finance Minister,
:01:05. > :01:06.will deliver the country's final budget before the government
:01:07. > :01:09.triggers Article 50 and Britain begins its negotiations to leave
:01:10. > :01:11.Despite the ongoing uncertainty over Brexit,
:01:12. > :01:16.Philip Hammond received an eve-of-Budget boost
:01:17. > :01:18.from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
:01:19. > :01:29.It now expects growth in the UK of 1.6% this year,
:01:30. > :01:30.up from its previous estimate of 1.2%.
:01:31. > :01:34.In theory this means more tax revenue for the Treasury and more
:01:35. > :01:36.money flowing in to the government's coffers.
:01:37. > :01:39.Despite this, economists are not expecting a spending spree from Mr
:01:40. > :01:42.Instead, he's expected to put the additional funds to one side
:01:43. > :01:45.in a Brexit war chest as Britain prepares for its divorce settlement
:01:46. > :01:48.Nevertheless, one area which may receive some immediate attention
:01:49. > :01:52.are the so-called "business rates" paid on commercial property.
:01:53. > :01:54.Despite the government's reassurances that Britain remains
:01:55. > :01:58.open for business, some companies will see more than a 40% rise
:01:59. > :02:11.To help cushion the blow, the Treasury has already announced
:02:12. > :02:20.that corporation tax will fall to 17% by the end of the decade.
:02:21. > :02:24.With me is Victoria Waldersee, commissioning editor for Economy.
:02:25. > :02:30.What are you expecting from the budget? I think from everything we
:02:31. > :02:34.think so far we are seeing two main messages. One is to be this idea
:02:35. > :02:39.that this is a time for so-called fiscal discipline and that we are
:02:40. > :02:43.entering an era of what Philip Hammond calls economic turbulence.
:02:44. > :02:49.The main reason for that he says his Brexit. The other hand we have this
:02:50. > :02:53.from the OECD and Philip Hammond to say growth is higher and things are
:02:54. > :02:57.better than we thought they were. They think it is recognising that
:02:58. > :03:01.these figures of growth predictions, the last ones we had were that
:03:02. > :03:05.things weren't going well. -- worth recognising. Before that they said
:03:06. > :03:11.things were going to be great. They have all been calculated with models
:03:12. > :03:15.that I'm very good at picking unexpected events. It is fair to say
:03:16. > :03:21.that it is hard to know how it will go over the next two years. We don't
:03:22. > :03:24.know how we will fare as a consequence of the Brexit
:03:25. > :03:29.negotiations. In the meantime, presumably he has to hedge his bets
:03:30. > :03:34.and be quite careful about spending? Absolutely. It makes sense and I
:03:35. > :03:38.think it will give people a sense of security to know that the government
:03:39. > :03:43.will set money aside for these negotiations. At the same time I
:03:44. > :03:47.think people can expect more clarity. He has been talking about
:03:48. > :03:51.gas in the tank, the economy is however more copper Katy just an
:03:52. > :03:56.engine fuelled by money. Also it is an economy that has been grappling
:03:57. > :04:00.with austerity for some years and many departments have been happy to
:04:01. > :04:06.digestive enormous cuts. Welfare state, policing, defence, the list
:04:07. > :04:13.is long. Will we expect any handouts to help with those areas? What we've
:04:14. > :04:19.seen so far in terms of specific policies that it looks like he's
:04:20. > :04:21.likely to rollout is national insurance for the self-employed and
:04:22. > :04:26.classic taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. What we've been hearing
:04:27. > :04:31.about is social care as well and of course the big issue is business
:04:32. > :04:35.rates. It may be a contribution to some, taking funds away from these
:04:36. > :04:38.businesses but then setting up a fund to then give that money back in
:04:39. > :04:45.the transition area says. There definitely seems to be a sense of
:04:46. > :04:51.where is all of this money going? That's why we need more clarity on
:04:52. > :04:54.what the ?60 billion is for and how it will give people the security
:04:55. > :04:59.they need during the Brexit negotiations. Not long to wait until
:05:00. > :05:03.we find out what's in that speech. Thank you for coming in and for your
:05:04. > :05:07.analysis. Just to say of course we will be right across that budget
:05:08. > :05:12.announcement on the BBC, with all of our experts and resources on
:05:13. > :05:14.television, radio and online. So you can keep right across it as it
:05:15. > :05:15.happens. Moving on now. The US Justice Department has
:05:16. > :05:18.levied its largest ever criminal fine in an export control
:05:19. > :05:21.and sanctions case against The company has pleaded guilty
:05:22. > :05:24.to violating the trade embargos Rico Hizon has been following
:05:25. > :05:41.the story from our Singapore bureau. What's been going on? And
:05:42. > :05:44.interesting investigation. Now just as Will indeed be served. The
:05:45. > :05:50.Chinese telecommunications giant which will pay a hefty fine of more
:05:51. > :05:54.than $1 billion US is accused of buying US components, putting them
:05:55. > :05:58.into ZTE equipments and then illegally shipping them to those two
:05:59. > :06:07.countries, North Korea and Iran. The equipment included Routers, micro-
:06:08. > :06:12.services and controllers, put on the encryption or antiterrorism reasons.
:06:13. > :06:17.They also made 283 shipments of mobile phones to North Korea,
:06:18. > :06:22.despite knowing this contravened rules around exports to the country.
:06:23. > :06:26.According to sources, ZTE bought around one third of its components
:06:27. > :06:34.from US businesses like Microsoft and Intel and also sold phone sets
:06:35. > :06:39.the major carriers like AT At it seems like ZTE is apologetic and
:06:40. > :06:45.knows it has made mistakes and is working towards improving its
:06:46. > :06:47.procedures. OK, thanks a lot and good to see you.
:06:48. > :06:53.As we reported yesterday the Geneva Motor show is just taking
:06:54. > :07:04.One of the most influential leaders in the global
:07:05. > :07:08.He asked him what he saw as the biggest challenges facing
:07:09. > :07:17.The main challenge is what happening at the level of the product. On top
:07:18. > :07:24.of this, there may be incentives for countries to maybe go from a free
:07:25. > :07:29.trade to add the dimension of what they consider as being fair trade.
:07:30. > :07:33.But most of the trade agreements are very old and the reality today is
:07:34. > :07:38.very different from what it was. So I'm not so worried about it. This is
:07:39. > :07:42.not what keeps me awake at night. I am much more focused and attentive
:07:43. > :07:47.to what is taking place at the level of the products. You spoke about
:07:48. > :07:52.some of the disruptive changes. One of those potentially is the UK
:07:53. > :07:55.leaving the EU, which it will. Back in October you said you would
:07:56. > :07:59.increase investment in Sunderland. What in January you said you would
:08:00. > :08:03.review the deal before then. We just want to understand where you stand.
:08:04. > :08:07.How solid is that guarantee that you will increase investment in
:08:08. > :08:11.Sunderland? You don't know, I don't know, you don't know what the Brexit
:08:12. > :08:16.rules are because they haven't been negotiated in Britain when it will
:08:17. > :08:24.happen. In the meantime, our best policy is to believe the commitment
:08:25. > :08:28.made by the UK government to say, I'm going to preserve the
:08:29. > :08:33.competitiveness of my industry through Brexit. There is no reason
:08:34. > :08:41.to doubt that. We've been in the UK for so many years, we have a
:08:42. > :08:45.tradition to honour the commitment. So we believe it and we feel good
:08:46. > :08:52.about it. A final question. You are in a joint-venture with... With
:08:53. > :08:57.General Motors, in Luton. Now that it has been taken over what's the
:08:58. > :09:01.future of the joint-venture? There are contracts, we will honour the
:09:02. > :09:02.contracts. So you will go to the contracts, everything in the
:09:03. > :09:10.contracts will be honoured. There you go! I'm assuming that
:09:11. > :09:16.Simon is hotfooting it from Geneva to be here budget day. He is key to
:09:17. > :09:23.our output today, as is our economics editor Kemal. All
:09:24. > :09:28.available on our website as budget day unfolds. This is currently the
:09:29. > :09:34.scene in Asia. A mixed picture. The same issues on the minds of
:09:35. > :09:38.investors. Really unsure about geopolitics at the moment. This is
:09:39. > :09:40.how things ended on Wall Street the night before and a bit of
:09:41. > :09:45.nervousness about whether this global rally, seen in the US, has
:09:46. > :09:48.actually run out of steam and of course next week most believe the US
:09:49. > :09:52.Federal Reserve will increase interest rates in the world's
:09:53. > :09:53.biggest economies. That's what happening with markets. See you
:09:54. > :10:10.soon. How do you encourage more people to
:10:11. > :10:12.catch public transport? A Singaporean bus operator believes it
:10:13. > :10:13.has the answer, smelly