citing its own energy needs, but new delhi has also acknowledged the fact that this trade relationship is deeply skewed in favour of russia because out of all the exports and trade, india s exports stood at only about $4 billion. it is the trade imbalance prime minister modi hopes to correct by this visit and any is hoping to explore more opportunity of exporting other items, ranging from pharmaceuticals to information technology and even agriculture. india, just to put it in context, has had age old ties from russia, which dates back to even the cold war period. russia has also been the long one of india s primary defence suppliers as well. it is a relationship india has refused to pivot away from despite criticism from the west, in fact repeatedly india has not openly criticised russia for its war in ukraine and has also abstained from voting against russia at the un as well, so in this visit we are also likely to see new delhi again trying to walk the tightrope, on the one
with a stark warning let s turn our attention to china now, which has reported its economy grew by 4.8% in the first quarter of this year. the figures were slightly higher than many analysts were expecting, however officials warned there would be domestic and international challenges ahead over the coming months. these include the current shanghai lockdown due to rising covid cases. joining me now is mark schaub, who s a international partner at king and wood mallesons. what do you make of this figure growth of that size would be the economies but perhaps not so for china? b’s the economies but perhaps not so for china? so for china? 896 back in 1992 it was around so for china? 896 back in 1992 it was around 1496. so for china? 896 back in 1992 it was around 1496. i - so for china? 896 back in 1992 it was around 1496. i think- so for china? 896 back in 1992 it was around 1496. i think it l it was around 14%. i think it would fall very much in line for what they would h
let s get down to business, and we begin with the intense diplomacy over the crisis at the ukraine russian border. as you ve been hearing, borisjohnson is due to hold talks with the russian president before visiting eastern europe this week. foreign secretary liz truss said on sunday she would set out legislation that would give moscow notice of a severe economic cost for any incursion into ukraine, by strengthening britain s ability to target russian assets in the uk. she will outline the details to the house of commons later today. this comes as energy prices soar on concerns russia could restrict supplies of gas to europe it supplies around 40% of the eu s energy needs. chris weafer is business and investment strategist at macro advisory. good morning. so there is a lot happening this week and all the time these concerns over what russia might do next and the gas price is going up and up. yes because the focus has been on the worst case sanctions and this is being talk
macro advisory in moscow. he said the situation for the russian currency is unique. you should not be looking at it in the same way as if there was a slide in a normally functioning economy or a european economy. the rouble is entirely managed now by the central bank in conjunction with the finance ministry, and has been since we last saw the rouble collapse down to about 130 in march of last year. so the central bank s priority last year was to keep the rouble exchange rate high at around 60, because it was tackling inflation, but this year, because of the sanctions impact and because that has led to a big hit on the value of russia s oil exports in particular, they have devalued the rouble in order to compensate for that fall in dollar terms. in other words, weaker rouble translating dollars into a higher rouble amount to balance the budget. that s been the priority this year. it doesn t reflect an imminent crisis. sort of a broad collapse in the economy. it s the result of
wildfires are still burning and firefighters are working to bring them under control. these pictures are from the us national guard. we also know that hawaiians are donating supplies to be sent to the worst affected areas. locals on the island of maui say much more help is needed though. hawaii s governor gave this update earlier. it is a harrowing sight in maui. when those providers, the police in this division, do come across scenes in houses or businesses, it s very difficult for them because they know ultimately they ll be sharing with our people that there have been more fatalities. i do expect the numbers to rise. questions are being asked now about whether hawaii s early warning system worked properly. the state s attorney general is conducting a comprehensive review of what happened. our correspondent, sophie long, sent this report from maui. the fire left more than a city devastated, and charred black buildings behind. existential questions hover above the empt