a decade of weak growth — the international monetary fund sounds the alarm, as central banks consider when to start cutting rates. plus, vietnam's corruption crackdown — why a property tycoon has been sentenced to death. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. our top story today: the head of the international monetary fund has warned the global economy is set for a "sluggish and disappointing" decade, as many countries remainchallenged as many countries remain challenged by inflation and debt. but kristalina georgieva also said central banks should resist the pressure to cut rates too early. the bbc�*s north america business correspondent, michelle fleury has more. with interest rates in many richer countries now at their highest levels in years, the head of the imf, kristalina georgieva, urged caution when it comes to cutting interest rates. where necessary, policymakers

must resist calls for premature interest rate cuts. her comments come a day after us data showed a surprise increase in consumer inflation. but she also warned that waiting too long could chill economic activity, saying debt is up and the global economy faced a decade of weak growth, which she labelled the �*tepid 20s�*. we are, indeed, heading for the tepid 20s. a sluggish and disappointing decade. mr georgieva's comments come as the international monetary fund and its fellow lending agency, the world bank, prepares to host their spring meeting next week in washington, where finance ministers, central bankers and policymakers from around the world will discuss the global economy's most pressing issues. the annual gathering takes place as several conflicts threaten global financial stability, including russia's invasion of ukraine and the war between hamas and israel in gaza.

staying with the us, where large banks will kick off theirfirst quarter earnings season later today. wall street giantjp morganchase is among them. but its ceo jamie dimon dulled hopes for interest rate cuts by the us federal reserve earlier this week, citing strong economic growth among other reasons. tim waterer, chief market analyst at kcm trade, gave us a sense of what to expect. i think we'll see solid numbers for 01, but there is this spectre of interest rates remaining higherfor longer and that could certainly cut into corporate growth later in the year, and i think that's whatjamie dimon is certainly alluding to there. so, i think the outlook for the corporates that will probably sway sentiment as much as the 01 earnings themselves. yes, the us interest rates, inflation do not seem to be heading lower — as many had hoped. how is this affecting the broader global economy and markets? that's right — the cpi figures that came out this week for march, they were uncooperative at best, and we saw the equity markets react negatively accordingly.

so, i think we're seeing that inflation by its nature is non—linear and we are progressively, this year, seeing a pushing—out of that timeline of when we could see those rate cuts. going into the year, markets were thinking we could see a rate cut come as early as march, march, then move tojune. june is now moving more towards september and even that's not a done deal. so, i think certainly there will be a lot of focus on upcoming inflation over coming months. overall, global markets are very ultra—sensitive to that interest rate outlook, given that if we do see current rates hold going into the latter parts of the year, that could impact growth not only for the corporate sector but also from a gdp perspective for individual economies. elon musk has announced on his social media platform, x, that he will visit india to meet prime minister narendra modi without giving a date. a senior indian government official told the bbc that the meeting is scheduled for the last week of april. the tesla boss is soon expected to announce

major investment plans in the country. last month, india cut import taxes on electric vehicles for global carmakers which commit to investing $500 million and starting local production within three years. india's push to attract ev makers comes ahead of its elections next week, where almost a billion people are eligible to vote. creating jobs is set to be one of prime minister narendra modi's biggest challenges, if he wins a third term, as widely expected. my colleague aaron heslehurst has been speaking to mr modi's former chief economic advisor, arvind subramanian. i think it is fair to say that over the last 20, 30, a0 years, india has not done a very good job of creating good qualityjobs for the vast majority of its workforce. the reason for that, as you well know, is that although india has grown very rapidly, much of the growth has been based on high skilled services, rather than low

skilled manufacturing and this is what distinguishes india from all the east asian countries. services are high skill, they provide greatjobs for those who are qualified but those constitute a very small share of the labour force. so, the challenges really are how do you create jobs in manufacturing. we know over the last ten years narendra modi's government has made india richer but one of the main gripes the opposition has is that the wealth isn't fairly spread around. in fact, and a recent study found it's one of the most unequal in the world with the richest 1% controlling 40% of the wealth. what challenges does that pose? one thing one has to be careful of is inequalities statistics but that said, i think inequality is relatively high — and by the way, i don't think inequality has grown, increased or deteriorated under

the modi government. so, i think what is much more important is to focus on those who are at the bottom end of the spectrum and trying to get them out of poverty. let's turn to the story of truong my lan who has been sentenced to death in vietnam. the property tycoon was found guilty of looting one of the country's largest banks over a period of 11 years. the bbc�*s southeast asia correspondentjonathan head breaks down the highly—publicised case. it's long been clear the communist authorities in vietnam wanted to make an example of truong my lan, the 67—year—old property tycoon at the centre of this truly massive banking fraud. they encouraged extensive publicity about the trial, giving every last detail about the case against her and the 85 other to vietnamese journalists. now, by opposing the

death penalty on her — which is rarely done to women in vietnam — the government seems to be sending out a warning to others, hoping to deter those who might be dabbling in fraud and corruption. now, this is just the latest, although most spectacular, chapter in the long—running anti—corruption campaign known in vietnam as blazing furnaces, led by the veteran communist party chief nguyen phu trong, under which hundreds of state officials have already been either prosecuted or disciplined. but it does raise real questions over how truong my lan was able to loot one of the largest banks in the country for 11 years with nobody trying to stop her. prosecutors have outlined the elaborate network of shell companies and proxies through which she concealed her control of the bank and allowed her to funnel out thousands of loans with a total of $41; billion. but it is clear that state officials were all too easily bribed to look the other way

and the banking regulations are definitely inadequate in vietnam. now over to japan because it's that time of the year when visitors to the country are treated to a world famous display of nature, with cherry blossom trees in full bloom. it's a big tourism draw for the country, which welcomed nearly 3 million visitors in february. and that's a 7% increase compared with the same month back in 2019, before covid restrictions were enforced. the weakness in the japanese currency is also an attraction for visitors, according to kumi kato, a tourism professor at wakayama university. tanami or the cherry blossom viewing over two months from march until may are estimated to attract about 3.7 international visitors with a direct spending estimate in us dollars of 37 million. as you said, it is the first year without those covid restrictions and also with some countries it coincided with the easter holiday also i'm happy to sayjapan seems to be on the wish list for a lot of people who regard japan as a special destination.

i think, i'm happy to say, the country does offer a safe and a quality product and service and that's genuine and honest. it's must be encouraging to see numbers return to japan to go higher than those before covid. how much of a factor, though, is the weak yen playing in this? i think it does play a big part. a lot of people seem to be quite surprised when they come to the country that japan is quite affordable. i thinkjapan still has this very perceived image about it's a very expensive country, like very expensive strawberries or very expensive melons and that sort of is not really the reality now. and what is your expectation for the tourism trend for the rest of the year? do you think it will

continue from the strong start you've had? i think it will. well, cherry blossom is a really big business domestically as well but yes, i think we really are expecting a very, very good tourism season this year. despite the spending boost from taylor swift concerts, singapore's economy is still not out of the woods. according to official estimates, the country's gross domestic product grew byjust 0.i% in the first quarter, from the previous three months. that was less than the 0.5 % increased forecasted by economists because of a slowdown in manufacturing output. it goes to show that there are limits to what taylor swift can do. have a great weekend.

hi, this is the catch up. tonight: new rules on instagram. a plea from a paralympian. and a very old turtle. we will start with caroline flack and the police say they will partly reinvestigate what made them decide to charge her with assault. she was best known for presenting love island and x factor but took her own life four years ago while facing prosecution for assaulting her boyfriend. now, the met say new witness evidence may be available. her mum has repeatedly criticised how the police handled her case. next, instagram plans to start testing new tools to fight what they're calling sextortion — it's when someone uses intimate images to blackmail a person online. one of the new tools is nudity protection. this will blur naked images in the dms and automatically be turned on if you are under 18. also, potentialvictims identified by instagram will be directed to websites for support. some other stories now.

a paralympian has criticised nike using amputee mannequins to promote its products when it doesn't sell single trainers. stef reid is a single—leg amputee, and says she is only able to buy their running shoes in pairs. mike responded and said they are exploring opportunities. next, the classic board game monopoly is said to be made into a movie. margot robbie's production company, who gave us barbie and saltburn, are set to produce it. and just time to leave you with ten seconds of a turtle — a very old one, in fact. meet is 95—year—old myrtle the turtle. here she is getting a check—up from vets, who gave her the all clear and said she should live for many more years to come. you're all caught up now. have a good night.

hello and welcome to sportsday with me, hugh ferris. our top stories. big—hitting bryson makes an impact on day one of the masters as dechambeau cards a seven—under 65 at augusta. a first anfield defeat in more than a year — and a damaging one: liverpool lose 3—0 to atalanta in the europa league. and lightning doesn't strike twice against lorenzo: novak djokovic avenges last year's defeat to musetti in monte carlo. hello again. welcome along to sportsday. for the first time in nine months, liv and pga tour golfers are competing in the same tournament, and it's one from the breakaway

series that's made a lot