Business news live from singapore. Raising taxes. Its rarely a popular decision but thats what singapore is expected to do when it announces the 2018 budget later today. And cambodia grapples with how to provide enough Affordable Housing to a fast growing population. Its monday, everyone. Good morning, asia. Hello, world. Glad you could enjoy enjoin us for another exciting week on Asia Business report, im rico hizon. In singapore taxes are the focus when the citystate announces its new budget. The government has flagged it will need to increase tax revenues as spending on healthcare and infrastructure is expected to rapidly rise. One possible idea, attacks on e commerce, which would make singapore among the first in asia to do so. Earlier i spoke with amy from ernst and young and i asked her if were likely to see tax increases. Really its what the government has been messaging up to today. Theres increased need for our social spending with an increasing and fast ageing population. What will be e commerce tax structure look like . Its likely it will be in the form ofa its likely it will be in the form of a goods and service tax on online transactions, its with Online Purchases of goods and services. The government is also rethinking its current goods and services tax structure, which is currently at 7 , is there a need for an e commerce tax and a gst tax or at the same time when the singapore budget is at a surplus . Theres always a balance, you have to look at the balance between raising tax revenue in a competitive way while not affecting the practices of singapore to work and do business in. Attractiveness. Looking and a gst rise of singapore at 7 , its one of the lowest in the world looking at. Even if we go to 9 or 10 , its in line with the rates in asia pacific. In line with the rates in asiapacific. Will this tax binge immediately materialise . We do not expect it to immediately kicked in because the government has said it has enough money for this term, which is up to 2020. Its really planning for the long term and we expect the government to give us advanced notice for the businesses and people to basically make adjustments and build in their budget in terms of coping with the increase. Aimee, we also saw the United States reducing its Corporate Tax rate from 35 to 21 . Amy. Are we likely to see something in this kind of form from this budget . Singapore Corporate Tax rate has been one of the lowest in the world at 17 . We are the four runner in bringing it down to 17 . Cant you bringing it down to 17 . Cant you bring it lower . Four runner. Possibly but the scope for bringing it down is very limited so we are going to focus on gst and e commerce transactions. Its one of the most competitive rates in the world already. What other features are you expecting from this budget . There is still a small possibility of additional new tax, possibly in the form of wealth tax, keeping our fingers crossed, its a balance between raising revenue and singapores competitiveness as a leading financial hub. The other areas will be increased help for globalisation and innovation. Amy ang from ernst young. Amy ang from ernst young. A bit week four cuppa, corporate earnings with more than 50 companies on the s p 500 due to report this week bigwig for. Walmart and home depot will be reporting on tuesday big week for. Hsbc will be reporting annual earnings tomorrow and we will see if it can build on last quarters Earnings Results home depot. In australia qantas are due to release their earnings numbers this week. Earlier i spoke tojune numbers this week. Earlier i spoke to june from tribeca Investment Partners in sydney and i asked her if qantas would have strong results despite stiff competition and rising oil prices. I think the company will deliver a good result in that environment given the benign environment given the benign environment in Ticket Pricing and it should announce a buyback, we expect a strong performance. And bhp billiton, will it produce strong results because of Commodity Prices . And we expect a consensus upgrade at this result, should be a strong price performance. You have the likes of home depot and walmart announcing their results this week with the economy expanding in the us, will be retailers have good results . Us, will be retailers have good results . They will deliver strong results . They will deliver strong results and give a positive guidance into next year. What about the likes of hsbc . They had strong results the previous quarter, will it outperform this quarter . I think they should deliver a good result given its the last result for the current ceo and looking forward they will need to give advisers on the tax. Its a good company to be at the moment. Its been a crazy two weeks in the globalfinancial its been a crazy two weeks in the Global Financial markets, are we likely to see a calmer mood among investors this week . Will there be more volatility yet again . We think this week should be generally led by the results and we dont expect anything that is out of extraordinary to shake at. We do have fomc Meeting Minutes this week, and potentially if they turn more hawkish that could shake the market but based on experience from last week, we think the market is on the right page and there shouldnt be any surprises. At this point, our investors getting comfortable with the idea that growth is sufficient to withstand the expected rate hikes . Absolutely. Investors are well aware, growth picking up and things are Getting Better so its time to get into those cyclical sectors. What are the red flags in the market that you would want to avoid . Avoid sectors like property, utilities and high growth sectors. They have been outperformed recently and they will underperform. Japan is seeing Global Demand for its products according to trade data today, exports jumping more its products according to trade data today, exportsjumping more than 12 injanuary today, exportsjumping more than 12 in january to compare today, exportsjumping more than 12 injanuary to compare it to a year ago. To mark a 14th straight month of games compared to. The trade balance came to a deficit of almost 9 billion gains. Cambodia has one of the regions Fastest Growing economies and its capital, phnom penh, is going through a building boom. Is though it is a poor city by Global Standards and affordability isa Global Standards and affordability is a serious issue, so how do you house a growing population on a limited income . It is, though. Phnom penh is growing. Phnom penh is growing. Phnom penh is in the middle of a building boom, cranes in the sky, new apartment blocks all over town, but many are simply out of reach for everyday cambodians even though the city is pretty cheap by Global Standards. Affordability is still a major issue here. Developers tend to make most of their money from high end apartments, but where do you put everyone else . Well, maybe here on this sandy soccer pitch where more than 2000 homes for lower and middle income cambodians will be built. This is the showroom of the project. So could this be cambodias answer to white picket fences . The pricetag from 70,000 to 75,000 us dollars. I think for the people who have low and medium incomes, they can come and buy in this project. By project. By one estimate fewer than 15 of new houses cost under 50,000, which is significant in a country where the minimum wage is less than 200 a month. Cambodia will need more cheap mass housing like this for its growing population. This project must be able to sustain itself so we can continue the second project for more cambodians who need a home. 0f a home. Of course delivering cheap homes means finding ways to reduce costs, and another local company has a few ideas about how to do that. These bricks fit together like lego blocks, which means they require less mortar and labour, and that means less mortar and labour, and that m ea ns lower less mortar and labour, and that means lower costs. Its a small Scale Factory for now, but there are plans to scale up to make enough bricks for 100 houses every day. The demand should be there, the government estimates the country will need 1. 1 million new homes by 2030. Timothy mcdonnell, bbc news, phnom penh. Before we go, heres a quick look at the asian stock markets and currently in positive territory after last weeks gains in us markets. The nikkei 225 up by 248 and the all ordinaries index gaining 27. The hong kong and chinese stock markets are closed today due to the Lunar New Year holidays. Thank you so much for investing your time with us. Im rico hizon must board today is coming up next. The top stories this hour survivors of the Florida School shooting are organising a National March on washington to demand tighter restrictions on gun ownership. Fire rips through lhasasjokhang temple, the extent of the damage to the most important shrine in tibetan buddhism is still unclear. The education secretary damian hinds has said there should be more variation in the cost of university courses, with each degree reflecting their value to society as a whole. Labour, who have pledged to scrap tuition fees, say another review isnt the solution. Heres our education editor bra nwen jeffreys. This is one of two jobs myra kesh is holding down. Shes in herfirst year of university. The loan for living costs isnt enough. Throughout the process of applying to uni i was thinking this is so unfair, im getting a lower maintenance allowance and im going to have to work several jobs in order to live. Sheffield hallam has lots of students from ordinary families. For alice, that means she worries less about tuition fees and more aboutjust getting by. Last year, i budgeted for about £50 a week and that was still too much to live on, so i had to bring that down to about £30 and that is still not enough. Every so often i might have to ask my parents for help. If they can just give me £20 for food, for basic food. Up to 6. 1 interest is charged on student debt. An average £5,800 of interest charges before leaving university. In total, its about £57,000 of borrowing for the poorest students. After 30 years, any unpaid loan is written off. But by 2021, there could be £160 billion of outstanding student debt. Its the poorest students in england who end up borrowing the most. Because they cant rely on the bank of mum and dad for living costs. So altering the system isnt simple. If you just lower tuition fees, you help the richest, unless you also put more money into maintenance support. This review will also cover higher technical education. In his first interview the new education secretary gave little away. Only one thing is certain, they expect graduates to help pay for universities. We think its right if you benefit from a university degree, you make a contribution, thats what the Current System does, what were doing in the review is looking at how that system works, making sure theres more alternatives and more variety. Universities say making studying affordable is the key. You need to reintroduce maintenance gra nts need to reintroduce maintenance grants and a level that offer stu d e nts grants and a level that offer students a basic level of subsistence. Hello, im tulsen tollett. This is sport today live from the bbc sport centre. Marcel hirscher picks up his second gold of the Winter Olympics this time winning the giant slalom the oldest and the greatest Roger Federer celebrates his world number one status with victory in rotterdam. And tottenham are forced into an fa cup replay after drawing with a team two divisions below them. Hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the Winter Olympics and day 10 is just underway in south korea but the news that Austrias Marcel Hirscher won a second olympic gold medal with victory in the mens giant slalom dominated day 9 on sunday. Hes been a dominant figure on the world cup skiing circuit but before pyeonchang his best olympic result was slalom silver in 2014. Nick Marshall Mccormack rounds up the action