the uk has struck a deal to join a trans pacific trade pact consisting of 11 countries. together australia, brunei, canada, chile, japan, malaysia, mexico, new zealand, peru, singapore and vietnam account for 13% of global gdp. the pact called the comprehensive progressive agreement for trans pacific partnership aims to cut or reduce 95% of import charges or tariffs. but some will be retained to protect sensitive domestic areas. the initial gains for britain will only be marginal, as it already has free trade deals with 9 of the 11 countries involved, and the government s own estimates show being in the bloc will only add 0.08% to the size of the uk s economy. joining me now is marco forgione, dg of the institute of export and international trade. how big a win is this for britain? victoria, this is a huge achievement to the uk. there are three areas we need to look at whenjudging are three areas we need to look at when judging what s been approved. the first is the e
been done in the country so what everyone should be trying to do is improve the quality of the lending. and you can see more of that interview with david malpass on talking business with aaron heslehurst who is back, this weekend on the bbc news channel on saturday here in the uk and in the rest of the world elsewhere. the first airing will be at 2130 gmt on friday. core consumer inflation injapan s capital tokyo slowed in march for a second month in a row, but it s still well above the central bank s 2% target. the inflation number raises pressure on the central bank s new governor, who takes over in april. tokyo is a pretty leading indicator of national trends, and prices there rose 3.2% in march from a year earlier, higher than expectations. joining me now is claire huang, strategist at the amundi institute, an asset manager.
but this whole argument that santa isn t going to be here for christmas isn t true. and to the gas prices, he has a point. reporters were lined up at gas station after gas station waving their hands about gas prices and you re hard pressed to find reporters talking about gas prices dropping, but they are. steph, i want to ask you about something else that we ve talked about a fair amount. this phenomenon that we re seeing across the country. more and more middle class shoppers going to dollar stores as inflation drives up prices. and at dollar general the ceo there told injess or thes earlier this year the company s core consumer has a household income of $40,000 or less, but the company s new higher income shopper is in the 60,000 to 75$,000 range with some shoppers netting as much as $100,000. what do you make of this trend, steph? reporter: traditionally you saw dollar stores in more rural areas. in places that were sort of big box store deserts.