hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. the head of the us central bank has dashed hopes that interest rates will calm down any time soon. jerome powell said that data showed inflation isn't quite where he would like it to be in order to start easing monetary policy. here is michelle fleury from new york with more. higherfor longer. that is the message from america's top banker, jerome powell on us interest rates. the chair of the federal reserve said policymakers hadn't seen enough progress on inflation since its rapid decline last year. and with inflation likely to take longer to return to the fed's desired target of 2%, a cut in rates, he said, didn't seem justified. we've said at the fomc that we'll need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2% before it would be appropriate to ease policy. you know, we took that cautious approach and, sought that greater confidence

so as not to overreact to the string of low inflation readings that we had in the second half of last year. the recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it's likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence. today's remarks highlight the different paths being taken by central banks around the world, with the european central bank's christine lagarde reaffirming that the ecb was still on track to cut rates. many people expect the ecb will cut rates injune. now, the timing of the first rate cut here in the united states this cycle has become a subject of much debate from main street to wall street to the campaign trail. the fed had previously signalled it intended to cut rates several times this year from a 23—year high of 5.5%. us stocks fell after mr powell spoke. tensions in the middle east have also been weighing on

markets, the conflict in the region has been cited as a risk to recovery for the global economy by the international monetary fund. in its annual report, the imf said growth would remain steady because propped up because of emerging economies like india but high inflation and weak demand in china and europe are major challenges. the bbc�*s economics editor has more from washington, dc. we have got new numbers from the imf, theirforecast for the world economy, and it shares a world economy that is more resilience and mainly driven by what is happening here in the us and in some emerging economies, such as india. there is a big black cloud over the world economy in terms of the economic consequences of what is happening

in the middle east. actually, the impact in energy and oil markets has been far less than expected given what happened over the weekend, they really haven't been affected much not so much of the attention is what is happening at the world central bank, the ramped up interest rates over the past few years, trying to deal with the inflation shock, and it had been expected that we had turned a corner and that there be a fewer interest—free cuts from the us federal reserve and the bank of england. markets are in doubt about that right now, suggesting those cuts, there'll be fewer of them and it come later in the year, which is one of the key debates here in the us as the imf and world bank, globalfinance ministers and bankers meet in the us to discuss the future of rates and central bank policy and the world economy. new zealand �*s premises is the cost—of—living crisis continues to affect the country's economy but that he has high hopes for investment and growth. i caught up investment and growth. i caught up with christopher luxon during his first official trip to singapore. we have been dealing with some challenging local economic at home where we have had government spending out of control and driving high

level of inflation that's slowed our economic growth down and obviously, it puts at risk rising levels of unemployment but even in the 150 days also set up we are making great progress on getting to the root cause which is lowering inflation so that we can lower interest rates, grow the economy and can lower interest rates, grow the economy and keep people in employment, we actually grow our economy and ticket forward from here and so, that's the bit of why we are travelling through the region, we think we can double our export in the ten years and attract foreign direct investment to support some of the investment in infrastructure that we want to make so i think we got a pretty inside the future. we got some short—term problem to work through run the cost

of living in inflation, you've seen the story of many other countries around the world post—covid but we are working very diligently and very conscientiously to make sure we put physical discipline back into government spending so that we can actually get our things in order. you reversed anti—smoking law sales with those born in 2008 as an example. we want to attract foreign capital and domestic capital and to work with private capital to build the infrastructure whether that is our roads, and some of our core infrastructure in new zealand. is it seen as a quick win, an easy win? policy difference which is essentially, outstanding piece of legislation in new zealand called smoke—free legislation. we want to get to a position in 2025 where we will have 5% of new zealanders has daily smokers, our legislation is beating and driving our smoking rates down. they've gone down to i7% tojust under 6.8%. it fell another two points of the course of the last 12 months so we've had a piece of legislation and a policy that worked incredibly well for new zealand, we disagree with the approach that previous government because we thought that they would actually drive more crime and a greater black market for cigarettes which are some that we don't support. personal question about your moving from the private industry to public service and how do you decide to make the transition? i'm a passionate new zealander.

i've had the privilege to work around the world for 16 years but i believe in our country and the potential that sits in it and get involved and that the republic service and so, for me, coming to politics three years ago, it's been an absolute fantastic experience. there's a lot that is transferable from the commercial world into the role that i have, particularly in the leadership skills that are required and we've all been going through the tough time economically and new zealand is no different and someone who understands the economy and commerce i think it's very important because it's only by building a stronger economy that we get the public services that we all deserve and need, only by building a strong economy that we actually set our future up for our kids and our grandkids and make new zealand a great place to live so i'm very excited by that work. that was new zealand's prime minister christopher luxon. in aviation news, united airlines says it has lost $200 million this year so far because of the grounding of boeing 737 max 9s plains. the plane were granted after an unused door plug blew

out midair on an alaska airlines flight in the us. united also said that it will least plans from our buses going forward because of a delay in bowling deliveries. 0ver delay in bowling deliveries. over the next six weeks, india will vote in an election where prime minister narendra modi is contesting a third term. archana shukla takes a stock of the largest democratic exercise in the world. the stage is all set. 970 million indian voters decide on who runs the country for the next five years. the scale and magnitude of this election bigger than ever before. 5.5 million electronic voting machines, 15 million polling officers, and a million polling stations. indian elections are the most expensive in the world. more than $8 billion were spent in 2019 general elections, and this year the numbers are expected to double. interestingly, the cost of conducting elections isjust 15% to 20% of this figure.

the rest spent on political campaigning more than ever. political parties are flush with cash, mainly through something called electoral bonds, a controversial scheme that allowed for people and companies to donate anonymously to political parties. $2 billion were raised through these bonds until february, when supreme court banned them. more than half the proceeds went to prime minister modi's ruling bjp party, making them the richest political party going into elections. this election is nothing but corporatisation of the poll campaign interpretation of the trajectory of the development and democracy and the governance. the money which is floating around is going to be at least three times more than what it was into 2019. while there is a cap on how much an individual candidate

can spend on campaigning, there is no limit on political parties spending. and hence extensive travels, rallies and road shows, many opting for expensive helicopters and jets. i invite you to join politics. and this time around, advertising on digital platforms, including using social media influencers, is estimated to cost nearly 15% of the entire campaign budget. and then there are the freebies and gifts given during campaigning, such as appliances, bicycles, laptops. and what's most difficult to trace are the illegal cash hand—outs given directly to the voters, which never make it to the official book—keeping. already so far, regulator has seized more than $600 million worth of illegal cash, alcohol and drugs connected to election campaigning, clearly showing the scale of the role black money plays in indian elections and the challenges authorities have in stamping it out. archana shukla,

bbc news, mumbai. now, i want to show someone that you might recognise, take a look and you might be wondering, what is she up to now? in her latest business adventure, she is up to something sticky and sweet. the duchess of sussex has revealed a line of strawberryjam, she appeared to have shed the treat with friends and influences who posted about it on instagram. that said for today's edition of asia business report. i will see you again same time tomorrow.

hiya. i'm betty. and this is the catch up. tonight, a complete smoking ban in the uk, the olympic flame, and an all—female ultramarathon. first up, mps have been debating a new law which would effectively ban smoking in the uk. they voted in favour of the ban earlier, but they'll need

to vote once more to make it law. the plan is being proposed by the prime minister, rishi sunak, and would mean that each year the legal age for cigarette sales would increase. so if you're born in or after 2009, you'd never be able to legally buy cigarettes. smoking rates in older teens are really high in the uk, with more than 12% of 16 to 17 year olds smoking in england. here's what some people think about the plans. anything that could put them off doing it and getting into it then, yeah, it's a good idea. i still think it should be a personal choice. the more you try and ban stuff, the more people are going - to try and do it. wales is going to host what organisers claim is the uk's first ever female—only charity ultramarathon. she ultra is 31 miles on the cywn peninsula in gwyneth on saturday and organisers hope that it will inspire more women likejenny to take part. it's kind of less pressure, i think like gender stereotypes is that men can do things a bit faster or stronger than women, so kind ofjust have a female only. i think it'll be

really, really cool. time now for ten seconds of the olympic flame. every four years before the olympics, the torch is lit in greece. and i didn't know that till today. this time, greece have kept it low key with a dramatic ceremony in ancient 0lympia. the flame is now on its way to paris, so hopefully no wind on the way. that's all for me tonight. have a lovely evening. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. a thriller in the champions league as psg come back to knock out barcelona in the quaterfinals. drama at dortmund too — another roller—coaster in that one as the germans make the semifinals at the expense of atletico madrid.

and a winning comeback for rafa nadal on his homecoming at the barcelona 0pen. hello there and welcome along to the programme. one thing the champions league serves up every year is guaranteed drama — and the first of this year's quaterfinals didn't disappoint. paris saint—germain went into their tie at barcelona, with a first leg deficit. but come away with a place in the semifinals. barca extended their advantage early on with raphinha's first half goal. but the french side though, so often underachievers in this tournament, hit back after barca were reduced to ten men. 0usmane dembele, vitinha, and two goals from kylian mbappe sealed a 4—1 win for psg in spain and a stunning 6—4

victory on aggregate.