:00:00. > :00:19.All right, now it is time for World Business Report with Sally.
:00:20. > :00:23.The French presidential election goes into overdrive.
:00:24. > :00:31.We compare the remaining two candidates' economic programmes.
:00:32. > :00:34.And we hear from the "green boss" who's been quietly donating millions
:00:35. > :00:37.to environmental causes but says he's now spending the money to take
:00:38. > :00:49.Hello and a very warm welcome. This is World Business Report. I am Sally
:00:50. > :00:50.Bundock. Also in the programme South Korea's
:00:51. > :00:53.latest trade numbers rocket. We'll go live to the
:00:54. > :01:00.region for the latest. First of all, though, it is the last
:01:01. > :01:01.week of campaigning for the French presidential election.
:01:02. > :01:03.Voters are being wooed by the frontrunner and centrist
:01:04. > :01:06.Emannuel Macron and by the far-right's Marine Le Pen.
:01:07. > :01:09.The economy and prosperity have been among the key issues
:01:10. > :01:17.in what is the world's sixth biggest economy.
:01:18. > :01:20.So what are the two visions that they're trying to sell?
:01:21. > :01:23.One of France's biggest problems is its unemployment
:01:24. > :01:24.rate remaining stubbornly high at 10%.
:01:25. > :01:30.So as far as Emmanuel Macron's is concerned, he plans to invest in
:01:31. > :01:33.training and partnerships, especially for the young. --
:01:34. > :01:36.apprenticeships. flexiblitiy on the
:01:37. > :01:39.35-hour working week. To bring down the jobless rate,
:01:40. > :01:42.Marine Le Pen wants a tax on foreign workers so that
:01:43. > :01:45.French citizens get priority for new jobs but she says
:01:46. > :01:49.she won't tough the 35-hour working When it comes to tackling
:01:50. > :01:53.the high levels of public spending Mr Macron says
:01:54. > :01:56.he'll save $65 billion with various measures including not
:01:57. > :01:58.replacing 120,000 retiring government employees and big savings
:01:59. > :02:01.on unemployment insurance. Ms Le Pen wants to cut
:02:02. > :02:03.public spending by leaving the euro, which she says would give
:02:04. > :02:12.France more flexibility She says this will give France the
:02:13. > :02:14.freedom to boost its own economy. She also promises tax cuts for
:02:15. > :02:16.companies who are innovative. Joining us now is Delia Dumitrescu,
:02:17. > :02:24.Lecturer in Cultural Studies Good morning and welcome to World
:02:25. > :02:28.Business Report. Thank you for joining us. Give us your take on the
:02:29. > :02:32.economic policies of the two candidates, starting with Emmanuel
:02:33. > :02:38.Macron. What is his big selling point? His big selling point is
:02:39. > :02:46.basically trying to transform the French economy to make it a bit more
:02:47. > :02:53.modern and to make it a bit more flexible. And this is because there
:02:54. > :02:58.is a lot of unemployment, as you said. And a lot of people have
:02:59. > :03:05.short-term jobs. And it is difficult for them to get those. And for
:03:06. > :03:09.employers also to offer them. So here's trade to make it more
:03:10. > :03:21.flexible. That is his selling point. How do you think that he will
:03:22. > :03:27.deliver that? Given that he was and economy Minister who failed to bring
:03:28. > :03:32.down unemployment before. They only have so much power. It is a
:03:33. > :03:41.globalised world. I think he would just try to push some reforms if
:03:42. > :03:45.elected my view is that the reforms, they will unlikely achieve
:03:46. > :03:51.everything he wants to achieve. -- economy minister for Francois
:03:52. > :03:56.Hollande. It is probably to be more moderate and piecemeal than he is
:03:57. > :04:05.saying. Let's talk about Marine Le Pen. What is she offering the
:04:06. > :04:10.economy? Her programme is very difficult to... Basically, a lot of
:04:11. > :04:16.economists and business people have said it makes little sense, to be
:04:17. > :04:22.honest. Because she has a very populist set of policies. More
:04:23. > :04:29.recently, she has been talking about getting out of the euro, but at the
:04:30. > :04:33.same time, talking about a common currency that would work at the same
:04:34. > :04:39.time as the national currency. So there is a lot of uncertainty and
:04:40. > :04:46.recently it has been said that her programme is like the Communist
:04:47. > :04:52.Party's programme in the 1960s. So it is very... Yes. It is difficult
:04:53. > :04:56.to know what she would be doing. But in a sense, the business community
:04:57. > :05:00.is very worried about that. We appreciate your time so early on a
:05:01. > :05:06.bank holiday. Thank you for getting a price.
:05:07. > :05:14.Of course, throughout the week, we will keep you across the final push
:05:15. > :05:17.for votes in France on the part of the two candidates. But let's look
:05:18. > :05:24.at the other stories. It would seem we are snapping up
:05:25. > :05:27.goods made in South Korea. It saw its exports jump in April -
:05:28. > :05:37.the fastest surge in more than five Sharanjit Leyl, tell us more. As you
:05:38. > :05:44.said, there was a whopping 15% jump in exports for April. Can you
:05:45. > :05:49.believe it? 15%. That is the fastest surge they have had in more than
:05:50. > :05:52.five years. That is mainly due to high-tech memory chips. These are
:05:53. > :05:57.used in many mobile phones around the world, including the iPhone, and
:05:58. > :05:59.this in spite of the political upheaval in the country, with the
:06:00. > :06:19.removal of its president, Parkin -- Parker and hay. -- Park Geun-hye.
:06:20. > :06:23.This seems not to have affected South Korean ability to churn out
:06:24. > :06:28.these products and to cut away. We know there are challenges to this
:06:29. > :06:31.growth. One challenge in the future is South Korea facing a
:06:32. > :06:34.renegotiation of a free-trade deal with the United States. We heard
:06:35. > :06:38.from President Donald Trump just last week saying that he is seeking
:06:39. > :06:44.to change the deal or it entirely. He claims it entirely favours the
:06:45. > :06:46.South Koreans. Interesting. Thank you for joining us, Sharanjit Leyl,
:06:47. > :06:50.in Singapore. Yvon Chouinard is the founder
:06:51. > :06:52.of the billion-dollar outdoors He started out as a rock climber,
:06:53. > :06:57.making first ascents of some In his own words, he "never wanted
:06:58. > :07:03.to be a businessman" and even encourages his
:07:04. > :07:05.staff to surf and climb In a rare TV interview he told us
:07:06. > :07:10.about the decline of the outdoors sports business and why he's
:07:11. > :07:22.picking a fight with US My name is Yvon Chouinard. I am the
:07:23. > :07:27.founder of Patagonia. The outdoor industry is not healthy at the
:07:28. > :07:30.moment. It seems that young people are just sitting at home, playing
:07:31. > :07:39.with their electronic devices and watching television. There are less
:07:40. > :07:43.people in the outdoors and when they are climbing, they are doing
:07:44. > :07:51.climbing in a soft way. You know, indoor climbing. So the outdoor
:07:52. > :07:55.industry is not very healthy. But we are doing fantastically at
:07:56. > :08:00.Patagonia. We are growing, I don't know, between 10% and 20% every
:08:01. > :08:04.year. I think that is because a lot of the millennium generation really
:08:05. > :08:08.care about the future. They know we are destroying the planet and they
:08:09. > :08:17.are voting with their dollars. So everything that we do as a company
:08:18. > :08:21.to be more responsible and to fight Donald Trump and do all these things
:08:22. > :08:35.turns out to be good for the business. Over the years, I have
:08:36. > :08:40.given over $80 million away, to environ mental causes. In the last
:08:41. > :08:49.couple of years, we have given $750,000 to lobby Barack Obama to
:08:50. > :08:53.create protected areas. -- environmental causes. With a dash of
:08:54. > :08:58.a pen, Donald Trump can negate that. Or he think again. But because of
:08:59. > :09:02.this new where could you give bigger grants, and they could you go to
:09:03. > :09:06.lawsuits. The way to deal with Donald Trump is to have a million
:09:07. > :09:13.bees around his head, so he cannot concentrate. -- because of this new
:09:14. > :09:18.administration, we will give ideograms. We want to stop what he
:09:19. > :09:21.is doing, which is to roll back all the environmental gains that we have
:09:22. > :09:29.tried to make over the years. This our home. And it is worth saving.
:09:30. > :09:37.He sounds determined. Yvon Chouinard, they are, the founder of
:09:38. > :09:42.Patagonia. -- Madafferi. US congressional negotiators have
:09:43. > :09:46.hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep
:09:47. > :09:49.the federal government funded through the end of the current
:09:50. > :09:52.fiscal year on September 30. That's reported by
:09:53. > :09:53.the Washington Post. The newspaper says that Congress
:09:54. > :09:56.expect to vote early this week on the agreement
:09:57. > :09:58.that is expected to include increases for defense spending
:09:59. > :10:04.and border security. That has helped move markets in Asia
:10:05. > :10:15.today. That has boosted the main markets in
:10:16. > :10:23.Japan and in Australia, which are open today many markets being
:10:24. > :10:29.closed. Including Hong Kong and Singapore, et cetera. And here in
:10:30. > :10:37.London. It is the Labour Day break, he may they break for many. -- the
:10:38. > :10:43.May Day. The testing of primary school
:10:44. > :10:46.children, used to make important decisions about students,
:10:47. > :10:48.is damaging and should be reformed according to an influential
:10:49. > :10:51.group of MPs. The cross-party Education Select
:10:52. > :10:54.Committee says the way SATs results are used to judge schools,
:10:55. > :10:57.causes a negative impact