16/06/2017 World Business Report

After months of wrangling, lenders agree on more bailout money

for Greece and the chance of debt relief next year.

Could the Greek tragedy be reaching its final act?

Plus, Havana rethink - are Cuba's growing business ties

with the US now under threat from President Trump?

Also coming up, after the biggest recall

in the history of the car industry, could faulty air bag maker Takata be

We start in Greece which has edged back from the brink

Late on Thursday, after months of wrangling,

European finance ministers, together with the International

Monetary Fund, finally agreed to give Athens its latest slice

And there's a hint it could get some relief from its crippling debt

Greece will finally get this - 8.5 billion euros -

part of an 86 billion euro bailout plan agreed in 2015

It will come just in time, as Greece faces 7.3 billion euros

-- Its total debt now stands at more than 337 billion euros.

To put that in perspective, have a look at this -

the red is Greece's debt level over the past decade.

The grey is its annual economic output or Gross Domestic Product -

everything of value that the country produces.

The debt is currently some 180% of GDP -

one of the highest levels in the world.

It has struggled to narrow the gap because round after round of

austerity - demanded by its lenders - has steadily weakened its economy.

That's why Greece has been insisting on debt relief.

In other words, writing a big chunk of it off,

The issue bitterly divides its creditors.

IMF boss Christine Lagarde says that's the only way Greece will ever

get back on its feet and has been refusing to get

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has been amongst

those insisting the debt must eventually be repaid in full.

But it looks like some sort of debt relief could now be

The chairman of the eurozone finance ministers' group is optimistic

Overall, I think this is a major step forward.

I commend the eurogroup institutions, the Greek authorities

and foremost, of course, the Greek people for their intense

We are now going into the last year of the financial support programme

We will prepare an exit strategy going forward to enable

Greece to stand on his own feet again over the course of next year.

Thanos Vamvakidis is global head of G10 foreign exchange strategy

Thank you for coming in. Good morning. Let's start with debt

relief, something that Germany has been adamant that Greece must repay

all of its debts in full but the IMF said we must have some debt relief

because the act is unsustainable. It's looking like Greece make its

debt relief in some form. They have been in this chicken game for the

last nine months. I think the agreement is a compromise which is

the best outcome given all the constraints but it isn't the final

solution. The reason of broad understanding that debt relief could

be acquired at its another kick off the can down the road. Sir you won't

think we will see an agreement for a chunk of debt to be written off, you

think it is more extending repayments? This is exactly what

they are discussing. Depending on the fiscal performance and economic

growth, they have to agree to maturity extension to allow Greece

to eventually repay the debt. We are talking about an extension of

between 0- 15 years, this is the discussion but of course a lot

depends on what will be your long-term growth assumption because

this will affect the numbers. And also what will be the assumption of

the interest rate you will be paying on the loan? This is what they are

discussing. It has not been signed off yet, it has to be approved by a

number of parliaments? I don't expect any problems. Germany was a

concern, given that they require the participation of the IMF, but one of

the good news from the deal is the IMF will participate with the

so-called standby arrangement which doesn't include any money before the

race a final deal on the desk. Do you feel they have been any

softening of the stance towards Greece because of Brexit? We have

seen the UK leading has perhaps made Finance ministers thinking they

don't want another country to live. Not really but rightly so they have

kept the two issues separate. If anything the creditors were tough on

Greece. They had approved measures for the next five years and had

fiscal guidelines for the next few decades without actually getting the

final answer on debt relief so this is completely separate. Thank you so

much for coming in. We are also in Cuba

because President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new policy

towards the country during a visit It could see rules on trade

and travel tightened once again, and undo significant elements

of President Obama's agreement After almost three years of the US

policy of engagement with a great three, President Trump is now expect

it to unveil a new approach -- Cuba. Every year since 2014 has seen

record numbers of visitors to the island thanks in no small part to

the number of US citizens who have come here, both via direct flights

and by sea on cruise ships. Mr Trump may choose to limit the number of

categories under which they can come here, including the broad term

people to people exchanges, all put limits on the number of times they

can reach the island, perhaps just one visit per year. Many feared Mr

Trump will prevent US entities from working with the tourism or the

commercial wings of the Cuban military and that would have an

effect because they are basically ubiquitous to this economy and if

you want any sizeable commercial presence here, you basically have to

work with them. It seems increasingly likely that President

Trump is going to use Cuba's poor human rights record is the

motivation for changing the relationship. The problem with human

rights however it is at the same time, Mr Trump is making overtures

to another country with poor human rights, Saudi Arabia. A greater

understanding has been fostered between the two nations over the

past three years, particularly in the arts, culture, music and sports.

In science also, given advances in immunology and cancer treatment has

been taken back to the United States for further tests. Now, some of

those shed projects are now sufficiently robust to withstand any

rollback by the Trump administration but others may be put in jeopardy.

To Asia now and the fate of one of the world's biggest auto parts

It is of course at the centre of that massive recall of faulty air

bag inflators - the biggest safety recall the car industry

Now, there are reports the company could be forced to file

for bankruptcy as early as next week.

Sharanjit Leyl is following the story for us in Singapore.

We have been hearing a company shares has been suspended. Could

this be the end for Takata? That's right, trading has been suspended,

the last they traded they were down about 0.6% and as you mentioned

those media reports essentially saying the company is preparing to

file for bankruptcy, you know, to put this into context, we've had

about 100 million Takata airbags which can rupture with deadly force,

they can spray shrapnel at passengers and they have been

recalled globally, faulty airbags have been leaked to at least one

dozen deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide. These reports,

some of which come from Japan's became newspaper, indicates the

company faces $9 billion. Takata hasn't commented but sources close

to the case are warning of imminent bankruptcy. The company says it will

be in talks with a potential deal with US auto-parts maker Key Safety

Systems which may buy some of the assets under a plan but the company

is looking bleak. Thank you very much. Back with more on that and all

of the business stories throughout the day.