world economy but what we do know from history it sounds like you approve this and the next financial crisis is so when's it going to hit let us be ready for it then shall we but. i'm not smart enough to tell you when the next financial crisis is going to come but what i am i think clever enough or cognizant enough of history to know is that populism doesn't tend to end well what i know from my experience is that bad policy of leads to a bad outcome and in the context of populism we are going to be confronted i believe by a lot of bad policy choices a lot of nativism a lot of interventions which perhaps are necessary a lot of wrong turnings and i think that is again something which leaves us in a very dangerous very threatened situation all right thanks so much for your analysis on that russell jones there giving us his thoughts on the outlook for the year ahead well still to come on counting the cost microchip in employees is it

ethical would you volunteer why some companies are already doing it. but first nearly two thousand venezuelans cross the border into peru every day and that's likely to continue into the new year after colombia peru now hosts more venezuelans trying to escape economic hardship than any other country but on the sanchez has been following their stories from the. by nothing i mean is going to buy you has been selling coffee on the streets of lima since she arrived from venice willing november the thirty two year old is qualified in food quality control but she's afraid she'll get in trouble for trying to work in an industry she knows well she missed the october deadline to apply for a work permit by just a few weeks i'm afraid we came here to work legally and to be in the country legally i don't want to do anything against the law to do so so-called foreign

police along with immigration officials are conducting inspections across the capital to ensure venus williams half the required permits to work out of the muzzle by the immigration chief. said the briefly detained some than a swell and for security reasons. sadly some people have committed crimes and that makes us sad because it affects the way peruvian see them and it also makes peruvians afraid. of the immigration office and many are rushing to apply for work permits before yet another deadline december thirty first it won't issue any more after that girl some of them will try i haven't waited for the last minute but it's been very difficult because i still don't have a certificate from interpol. immigration authorities say they've increased the number of personnel and office hours to help these venezuelans get their paperwork done fast but they also say eighty five thousand venezuelans have missed their appointments and twenty thousand have not picked up their approved permits. six

hundred thirty five thousand in a swim and snow living according to official estimates you know it. says she feels lucky that she crossed the border in time to work legally and also at work i pride in august they gave me to a point where you just know i don't know what will happen to those who get here after the situation in venezuela is a tragedy and officials say those wintered. tobar can only apply for asylum now but emily's kind of this doesn't guarantee a job you're good at that we did it but didn't when i applied for asylum they gave me a paper that allowed me to work but no one is accepting it as valid. on average two thousand in a sewer lines cross into every day they do re and official say they will not issue work permits after december but for now they will keep the border open to those fleeing the deepening economic and political crisis back home of crude oil fell

almost twenty five percent in two thousand and eighteen and for petro depended economies here in the gulf that's not welcome news over the year to come government budgets may have to make some adjustments iran for example already feeling the pain after being hit by u.s. sanctions on its oil industry the latest government spending plan shows revenues are down sharply as inflation sause the government is promising to meet people's basic needs across the wider region a growing youth population need stronger economic growth to create jobs diversification away from oil is a big part of that let's get more now on the outlook for the middle east region's economy in the year ahead i'm joined by lauren lambert a senior policy analyst at the social and economic survey research institute cutter university welcome back good to have you in the studio again so are people in the region heading towards better economic times in two thousand and nineteen would you

say long or not so much chile what most people expect is a tougher twenty nineteen actually the prices of oil are not expected to be very high and the prices of. gas are expected not to be high level they've been during twenty eight thousand so not a very good situation for the middle east region generally speaking no expectation that will make further production cuts and that will stabilize all prices at least from falling further so there are two things here there is a pick and opec plus opec is the traditional opec opec plus is when russia and some other countries may join in default to make further curt's and to influence the price of oil. you know to have a higher price of crude the problem is that russia which is the key player outside of opec but joining in. us does not have much interest in making so many cuts it

has agreed on one not so long ago it didn't have much influence i don't expect them to make a strong cuts in twenty nine thousand the last time you came in we talked about diversification though these are common is posed to be heading towards more sort of knowledge base economies where did that go then well unfortunately due to lower oil prices which is the key commodity for masts of the oil exporting countries of the region for most of the countries of the arab peninsula especially but also in northern africa so they didn't hit their targets no no no not at all they are far below and it's not the first year if the region's economies haven't been able to perhaps invest as much in knowledge based economy economic plans i guess there's no fallback position in terms of if or prices a way that they have something else to look towards to generate income yes indeed

there is a strong concern here that they are still heavily reliant on this one commodity that they don't control so much the old good time where opec could make a difference are gone everyone agrees on that now we. close is not that strong so all these diversification that the tried to implement through grand infrastructure projects our development of more and the likes based economy are significantly delayed so for instance has chanced its targets and for now we are twenty one thousand won't be that much different than in twenty eighteen but it will only make this diversification postpone even further mention saudi arabia one of the gulf economic heavyweights its assets came under pressure in two thousand and eighteen didn't it yes yes the deed for a number of reasons. there were some oil concerns of course as we've mentioned the

price of oil has decreased but there were also some more political factors but. fared the war in yemen which finally came to the attention of political decision makers in in america but also across europe and some other countries and some of the spats with trade former trade partners if i must say of saudi arabia canada for a short time with germany saw a set of elements which have been affecting very negatively the economic expansion of the saudi economy that you think that will continue in two thousand and nineteen well i don't expect such a series of bad news happening to saudi arabia because that has been quite exceptional but what we unfortunately can expect is that the higher you leave the world of investment into the saudi economy that they were expecting will not happen either because people are scared for now people in the west they are in a wait and see situation they want to see what's happening if there is some more

calm if there is an economy growth and then they may invest it has to be no wait and see in the gulf right because cuts are on the other hand seems to be defying expectations in terms of attracting capital given that there's no end in sight that we can see to the blockade it's acid. with the best performing in the engine run yes but qatar as you've said is a very different situation qatar is first is mostly a gas exporting country it's not so much relying on oil and gas really formed in terms of the growth. or are there is not the same kind of competition on the international market for outlets for natural gas than there is for oil has seen a surge from the north america essentially from the u.s. and especially from texas which has been extraordinary over the past year in gas this has happened there has been a growth in australia especially but this was not just to the same extent and also there is a one key element is that china now is shifting more towards imports of natural gas

than all the sources of combustion saw it's trying to reduce its use of coal and its use of oil if it can it's difficult but at least to try to have their growth in energy demand compensated with increased amounts of natural gas so this is driving these should need for natural gas driving the prices up so qatar is benefiting from this shift in this news economy while saudi arabia is suffering from a number of earth of elements including lower oil prices the gas versus oil that's an interesting dynamic where does that leave a country like iran is it heading towards more recession and twenty nineteen because of the reimposition of u.s. sanctions well this is what most people expect india to the reason is that all do iran has a lot of gas reserves it actually does not exploited or selita broad's so much gas reserves need a lot of infrastructure investment to be able to be used commercially is difficult

to get when you've when you're under sanction absolutely and sore now for two decades the arabians have tried to develop their natural gas sector or but they've not been aged to. make very significant developments of their capacities. they are heavily reliant on oil and oil as i've just said is not expecting to grow much higher actually it has decreased a lot in twenty eight eighteen and people think it will remain under the sixty dollars or level maust of twenty nine thousand which is too low for the iranian budget and finally on the global economic outlook if that slows down as some are expecting where does that on to make the picture even bleak about where does that leave the region well the region indeed is very much depending structurally depending on the global demand for energy which is completely related to the global

economic growth if there is these stocks many fear it may happen well then indeed it will negatively affect some oil and gas exporting countries of the middle east some more than others again iran may be very severely affected saudi arabia to. gas countries such as qatar less soul but steel all will feel the impact of a global recession or global stocks which is what is most expected by many long good to have you with us thanks so much for coming in thanks amy good to be here. well saudi arabia announced a major cabinet shake up as the year came to an end significant changes include the appointment of former finance minister ibrahim alas out of the post of foreign minister south was briefly detained during crown prince mohammed bin sandman's anti corruption crackdown last year there's also a new national security adviser for the crown prince retains his wide ranging

powers over the economy the reshuffle is the first shake up of the kingdom's power structures since the killing of journalist jamal ji and finally a microchip in your path is a good idea if they tend to roam away from home but if your employer wants to do the same thing several british companies are considering offering timely micro chip implant similar to those for pets but for their employees it's voluntary of course but is needs barco reports there are concerns the risks may outweigh the benefits. the future is a wave of a hand away in case you missed it here it is again. this is a whole new level of security no keys or access cards difficult to steal and copy but the technology requires a certain level of commitment that is not for the faint hearted. so this is where

the micro chip implant story begins for those who want them at least a clinical setting a sterile environment with some rather daunting bits of medical kit so talk us through what happens next so far as part of cedars while setting the point. and we'll use a scalpel just to make a small incision. and then finally rob a large need to out and that we first just i'll stop you there for me in my case at least i think i've already was no is because it really hurt completely pain free the u.k. firm biotech office implants to businesses and individuals is fitted one hundred fifty implants in the u.k. so far and the number is rising assistive technology from sable people implant. banking security general contact as payments passport will be stored on these microchips and embedded in your hand comes down to convenience i suppose for

people it's very hard to lose your hand evolution. a lot of sound demographics will not convenient this is one of several implant firms reportedly in discussions with british financial and legal companies the names of the companies are being closely guarded this isn't new technology microchips have been implanted in tents for many years but the prospect of implanting them in employees to spark concerns from trade unions. gives even more control and power to be employer and not come as wary of inherent risks and dangers overdressed inventors just be ignored by an employer every meter of into consideration and their definition be pressuring any workers into every market biotech company say the technology should be voluntary and that people must have a right to privacy but with one swedish bio hacks claiming to have already implanted four thousand people their worries microchip in could eventually become

the new normal society's embrace the mobile phone making is easy to track on a daily basis but by implanting microchips there may be few places left to truly escape from technology and that's our show for this way but remember you can get in touch with us. twitter use the hash tag a j c d c when you do or drop us an e-mail counting the cost around zero dot that is our address is more for you on line around zero dot com slash c.t.c. that will take you straight to our page which has individual reports links and entire episodes for you to catch up on. but for this edition of counting the cast i'm sam is a than from the whole team here thanks for joining us news announcer is next.