a semiconductor superpower. our asia business reporter monica miller has more. it is a major setback. prime minister narendra modi has made chip making a top priority for india s economic strategy in pursuit of what they say is a new era of electronics making. it doesn t get much bigger than foxconn, which makes roughly 70% of apple s iphones. india estimates that its semiconductor market could be worth $63 billion by 2026. now, we need to go back a little bit to explain how this partnership happened. that was in september 2020 to the taiwanese firm and the indian mining giant agreed to this deal. and part of it was because foxconn was looking at the situation then, which had strict covid restrictions in china, where a lot of these phones are made. they are also concerned about the geopolitical tensions we ve mentioned many times on this programme between the us and china. so it was looking to partner up, which is with the country which is now the largest in the world. but un
if you have just joined if you havejustjoined us it is time for the top business stories. we start here in the uk where in the next few hours the bank of england is widely expected to raise the cost of borrowing for the twelfth time in a row. the quarter percent rise most economists are predicting would take the bank s main interest rate to 4.5% the highest it has been in almost 15 years. the big question though will it be enough to start to get inflation, which is still running at more than 10% a year, under control? let s speak to katharine neiss she has held various roles at the bank of england and is now chief european economist at p gim fixed income. good to have you on the programme. iassume good to have you on the programme. i assume you are with the majority believe we are looking at a rate hike today of another 25 basis points. today of another 25 basis oints. . , today of another 25 basis oints. . , ., , points. that s right, that s the consensus p
on immigration. also ease the pressure on wages. lots of forecasts have said that pressure on wages. lots of forecasts have said that inflation pressure on wages. lots of forecasts have said that inflation would - pressure on wages. lots of forecasts have said that inflation would start l have said that inflation would start to fall dramatically this year. that does not come to pass so far. what is your best forecast for what will happen? it is your best forecast for what will ha en? ., is your best forecast for what will ha . en? ., ., is your best forecast for what will hauen? ., ., , , , ., happen? it would not surprise me to see inflation happen? it would not surprise me to see inflation down happen? it would not surprise me to see inflation down to happen? it would not surprise me to see inflation down to 496 happen? it would not surprise me to see inflation down to 496 by - happen? it would not surprise me to see inflation down to 496 by the - happen? it would not sur
vacancies have been coming off but all of this takes time for it to feed through so that is one reason why i expect the bank of england mayjust want to take a wait and see approach about where next, to see whether those interest rate rises it has already put through start to work their way through start to work their way through the uk real economy. as for headline inflation, it does look quite different in the uk, in part that is a reflection of how household utility prices are set and regulated here and i do expect along with many other economists that once we get this april data later this month we will start to see a more visible downward trend in headline inflation in the uk as we are seeing in the us and the euro area. we are seeing in the us and the euro area- euro area. thank you, we appreciate euro area. thank you, we appreciate your euro area. thank you, we appreciate your analysis | euro area. thank you, we i appreciate your analysis and needless to say when we do get t