Transcripts For BBCNEWS Asia Business Report 20240714

On the bbc news website. Just log on to bbc. Com news or download the bbc news app on your mobile device. And now on bbc news, we cross live to singapore for Asia Business report. All the details as the European Central bank cuts a key Interest Rate deeper into negative territory stop afg hanistans pet rate deeper into negative territory stop afghanistans pet economy. We ta ke stop afghanistans pet economy. We take you to the bird market at the heart of kabul. Welcome to welcome to this welcome to this friday welcome to this friday edition welcome to this friday edition of welcome to this friday edition of Asia Business report, im Sharanjit Leyl Asia Business report, im Sharanjit Leyl. We start with the World Economy because the European Central bank has unveiled fresh stimulus measures to bolster the eurozone, including cutting a key Interest Rate even deeper into negative territory. The move comes as policymakers attempt to combat the Global Economic slowdown. The risk surrounding the euro area Growth Outlook remains tilted to the downside. These risks mainly pertain to the prolonged presence of uncertainties related to geopolitical factors, uncertainties related to geopoliticalfactors, the rising threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets. The bbcs Andrew Walker has more on theissues the bbcs Andrew Walker has more on the issues facing the eurozone and how the ecb is tackling economic slowdown. The eurozone economy has a problem. Well, two closely related problems. 0ne well, two closely related problems. One is weak growth, and the eurozones largest economy germany is in recession or close to it and the other issue is inflation, persistently below the ecb target. So what are they proposing to do about it . Well, a package of measures was announced and the key ones being a cut in the deposit rate, thats one of the key Interest Rate, thats one of the key Interest Rate of the ecb that applies to excess money parked by commercial banks with the central bank. That was already below zero and its being taken was already below zero and its being ta ken below was already below zero and its being taken below negative territory, its now down to 0. 5 . The other is the resumption of the ecb Quantitative Easing Programme, using newly created money to buy financial assets, in particular government debt. Was this the big bazooka people in the Financial Markets were looking for . Well, on those two key measures, the markets we re those two key measures, the markets were a little disappointed in that the cut in the deposit rate wasnt quite as deep as they were looking for and the scale of the Quantitative Easing Programme the ecb announced wasnt as large as they were looking for. That said, on they were looking for. That said, on the yvette qe programme, it was open ended, no time limit, and thats gone down relatively well. How effective will it be in stimulating the economy . Lots of people are sceptical about the effectiveness of eurozone Interest Rate policy. In particular, we are looking at a situation where Interest Rates are already extremely low and there are real doubts about whether going further can make all that much difference. Is no surprise that much difference. Is no surprise that the ecb president mario draghi called for governments who have the scope to do it to use their finances to revive more stimulus. He didnt name names but clearly he has in mind germany more than any other, which could undoubtedly, without putting its finances in any great peril, afford to cut taxes or spend a bit more for example on infrastructure. That i think is where the debate is likely to move to now. The bbcs Andrew Walker. Lets talk megamergers, as the London Stock Exchange bosses are set to meet in the coming days to discuss a surprise takeover bid from its hong kong rival. Market commentators have already poured coldwater on the 39 billion us dollar proposal, saying it will face opposition from shareholders, regulators as well as politicians. Of course, recent history shows us the difficulties facing the bed. Since 2000, theres been seven failed takeover attempt for the London Stock Exchange. Earlier i asked an Investment Analyst whether this bid can succeed where so many before it have failed. We dont think it will actually go through in the end. Theresjust we dont think it will actually go through in the end. Theres just too many obstacles in the way of the deal. Firstly theres the political issues, because giving up one of your most iconic Stock Exchanges in europe, especially to a china linked foreign entity, will be extremely ha rd foreign entity, will be extremely hard for approval. Why purchase the London Stock Exchange at a time where theres so much uncertainty over brexit and when hong kong is facing all sorts of political upheaval . I would say theres three main factors. The first is prestige. 0bviously hong kong has been and is one of the Main Financial hubs in the world but recently its been declining because of domestic issues. Before purchasing such an amazing Stock Exchange would bring them into the spotlight for positive reasons. Then we have to think strategically. With china continuously opening up more and more, there will be fewer deals going into hong kong, lest unicorns going into hong kong, lest unicorns going into hong kong, lest unicorns going into hong kong, so they need to find growth somewhere and what better match than purchasing one of the main Stock Exchanges in europe at another main important Financial Hub . And in terms of timing, now is perfect because the London Stock Exchange will acquire affinity of and if that deal would have gone through, the resulting entity would have been too big for the hong kong Stock Exchange to be acquired. And the currency exchange, the pound being undervalued at the moment, but tell us about the regulatory hurdles stop you said earlier its unlikely a chinese entity will be be able to buy into the London Stock Exchange but weve heard other regulatory hurdles in the past where courtiers have sought out the London Stock Exchange. Giving up such an important financial entity in your country to a foreign entity is obviously extremely difficult. Regulators will probably not want to be seen as giving the green light to such a deal, especially in an environment where uk politics is very probably a bit dizzy thinking about brexit, so nobody wants to ta ke about brexit, so nobody wants to take the headache on themselves and be seen to be giving the green light to this deal. In other Business News British Airways has started e mailing passengers to cancel flights to weeks ahead of another strike by pilots. The Airline Pilots staged a 48 hour our walk out this week, which for nearly 200,000 passengers to change their travel plans. The dispute is over a pay rise which pilots say is not high enough. Google has agreed to pay over 1 billion to french authorities to settle a n billion to french authorities to settle an investigation into its taxes, which started when its paris headquarters were raided in 2016. French investigators said the tech giant owed about 1. 8 early in dollars in unpaid taxes. In the us, shares in smile direct club have plummeted on its stock market debut. The company, which sells plastic teeth aligners online, and at 300 stores, raised more than billion dollars from the ipo but its shares fell 27 , raising further concerns about plans for other high profile listings like the Office Space Provider wework. Now to a part of the world we rarely cover on Asia Business report, afghanistan, where keeping birds as pets is a popular pastime. In this weeks edition of our pet economy series, we bring you a bird market in kabul. The most popular birds are canaries, but because the economy is bad, people are buying cheaper birds like para keets. People are buying cheaper birds like parakeets. You get parakeets from iran, east afghanistan and pakistan. These ones are originally from germany and poland. Are used to sell them at around 1000 but now prices have dropped to 250. There is an unregulated amount of hunting thats happened with the migratory birds, and the challenges of that is multiple countries have to regulate that trade. What we are not able to understand is the amount of birds being taken out of the skies, but we do think those numbers are declining and thats because numbers are being caught for the exotic pet trade and into other industries. Translation ive been selling pigeons for 35 years. Even when the taliban were in power and a band keep people from keeping them, are used to sell pigeons and people would buy them secretly. When you go home from work, its relaxing. Its a nice hobby to have. And before we go, a quick look at the asian markets. This is where theyve opened, and that wrings us to an end of this edition of Asia Business report. Thanks for watching. This is bbc news. The top stories this hour all 10 leading contenders for the Us Democratic partys president ial nomination are to debate together for the first time shortly. More than 140 bushfires are affecting the Eastern States of australia, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes. A baby boy who died after being pulled out of a river in Greater Manchester has been named locally as zakari bennett. Zakari, believed to have been 11 months old, was rescued from the river irwell in bury yesterday afternoon but later died in hospital. Its thought hed been thrown from a bridge. A 22 year old man, thought to be zakaris father, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Mps are calling on Gaming Companies to protect young people from becoming addicted to their products. One big concern are so called loot boxes, virtual objects that you can buy during online gaming, to improve your progress. Now there are calls for them to be regulated and banned from being sold to children. Joe tidy reports. Here we go, man loot boxes are randomised in game treasure chests opened with real world money. Mps want them regulated under gambling laws. At a nearby gaming cafe, owner mike welcomes the idea. My opinion is they are gambling. They have the mechanics of gambling, they act the same way as gambling does, you dont know what youre going to get when you put your money towards them and i think they have the same dangers as gambling. But its not a view shared by all. Its your choice after all. Ive spent over £100 on it. I think it was worth it in the end because it all at once. You want something and if you dont get it, you keep going until you get it. I think its only a problem if you cant control it, i guess. Mps say children are particularly at risk from spending on loot boxes. They want the ban for those under 18. Families find it extremely difficult to deal with gaming disorder in their children and sons and daughters because before it. Even before it becomes a proper disorder, it has already tainted and disrupted the good family dynamics. Industry bodies and say theyre reviewing the recommendations. We ca re reviewing the recommendations. We care deeply about player experience. We want players to play safely, we want them to play in a balanced way. We provide technical settings, technical measures, education and robust age ratings and guidance and information sources. Loot boxes have been banned in some countries. Removing them can be a relatively straightforward software update. But with some games making hundreds of millions of pounds from them, its unlikely to happen overnight. Joe tidy, bbc news. Hello, im Gavin Ramjaun and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. Coming up on this Programme Australia go to work on englands batsmen but the home side rally, in the final ashes test. The solheim cup is due to get underway well have the pairings for fridays foursomes at gleneagles. And the comeback former world number one Kim Clijsters announces her return to tennis at the age of 36. Welcome to the programme. Australias Mitchell Marsh made an Immediate Impact on his introduction to the ashes, taking four england wickets on the first day of the final ashes test. The tourists are searching for their first series win, on english soil, since 2001 but england are digging in. Jos buttler saving their blushes with a half century. 0ur sports correspondentjoe wilson was watching the action, from the oval in london. A full day of test match cricket here at the oval and as we approach mid september, we should be thankful for that fact alone. For much of the day, a story of catches, dropped ones. Australia missed three opportunities to get rid ofjoe root before he reached 50 and thenjoe root, the benefit of that good fortune, seemed to get a bit stuck himself. Dismissed for 57