this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. china pledges $60 billion worth of investment in africa, despite accusations of being saddled in debt in overseas projects. drastic action — argentina prepares for the shut down of half the government's ministries as president macri desperately tries to contain the financial crisis. and on financial markets, there was no steer from wall street due to the labour day holiday on monday. right now in asia, investors are grappling with weakness in emerging markets. it isa it is a mixed picture. leaders from more than 50 african countries are in beijing to talk trade with their chinese counterparts. and china's government

isn't underselling it. the foreign minister has called it "the biggest summit of all time". that may sound like quite a claim, but the scale of trade between the two sides is huge. trade between china and africa amounted to $170 billion last year, with africa selling commodities and buying chinese goods. thats up 14% on the previous year. but most african countries run large trade deficits with beijing, meaning they buy more from the china than they sell. and there are concerns about the $130 billion african countries have borrowed from china since 2000 with fears that some could actually default. china says it's a responsible investor and it recently announced a new $60 billion package of development financing for africa. much of this money has already been allocated,

so how has it been spent? let's take a look. simba mhungu, managing director of hfg advisory, joins me now. good morning. good morning. thanks for being on the programme. pleasure. you saw those statistics, talk about weight is so important, president xi have the opening speech in beijing and he selling hard. president xi have the opening speech in beijing and he selling hardm isa in beijing and he selling hardm is a big dealfor africa, if you've been to an african city in ten years the skyline has changed. africa is known to be one large chinese construction project. the numbers back it up. so you talked about trade, it peaked at about $220 billion a few years back, mostly driven by oil prices, and the prices of machinery. africans buying

machinery from china and china buys oil. it goes beyond that. if you look at the scale of infrastructure in africa that is being funded, you see that china is the single largest financialfunder of see that china is the single largest financial funder of infrastructure gci’oss financial funder of infrastructure across the continent, bigger than eve ryo ne across the continent, bigger than everyone else combined, so it is a big dealfor africa. everyone else combined, so it is a big deal for africa. and president xi talking about the 1—.3 billion chinese people who will work with the1-.2 chinese people who will work with the 1—.2 billion african people in terms of building a in terms of stronger future, strongerfuture, transport, stronger future, transport, energy, telecoms, agriculture, water, it, is ita win—win, telecoms, agriculture, water, it, is it a win—win, what are the downsides? so, the perception. 0verall, downsides? so, the perception. overall, i think it is a win—win. we have an alternative source of capital to the world bank and all the other institutions that used to lend us money. there are concerns

about the size of the debt and the terms of the debt. and for any lender they are going to have cove na nts, lender they are going to have covenants, terms for whatever they extend to africa, and it is africa's prerogative to accept the terms or not. the amount itself, if you look at the numbers, is not extraordinary. it is 120 billion over the last 15— 18 years, and if you look at countries such as ethiopia or ghana, ghana has $4 billion in outstanding debt, sorrow, $25 billion in outstanding debt, and less tha n $25 billion in outstanding debt, and less than $4 billion of that is from china, while ethiopian has $29 billion outstanding debt and $12 billion outstanding debt and $12 billion is from china, so there is still head space as far as debt is concerned. and that gives china a lot of control in the meantime while other countries are looking to

africa, the united states looking to get a piece of the action, the uk, theresa may was there, and other european leaders. everyone else sees the potential. they absolutely see the potential. they absolutely see the potential. they absolutely see the potential vast amounts of natural resources, which china needs in large quantities, so what they tend to do is to attach the right or the option to mind the resources in the option to mind the resources in the event of default. the equipment going from china to africa is largely mining equipment to get those resources back to china, so i think there are issues around those options in terms of transparency regarding the debt covenants that cover the african debt. very interesting. thank you, simba, for coming in this morning, and we will look at this again in the news briefing shortly, because it is all over the chinese press, and we are looking at how they are covering this end of story as well in chinese media. now, we will move onto

argentina. the argentinan government has announced drastic spending cuts as it tries to contain a currency crisis. president macri says half of the government's ministries will be shut down, as his finance minister prepares for emergency talks with the imf in washington tomorrow. let's hear from argentina expertjimena blanco, she's head of americas at the risk management firm verisk maplecroft. argentina is going through a boom and bust cycle. the last government is of course the last experience of price, currency and export controls. this is what gets us here. no wants —— no one wants to go into austerity measures. it needs to see that macri's reform plan wasn'tjust a blip of three years and we might have an election that sees another populist come to power. when argentina enters this deal with the

imf, there is a cause, which is what they will discuss with christine lagarde, that will allow argentina to some degree to ring—fenced social spending. so the government needs to be very careful. it needs to get the economy back on track. at the same time, it can't afford social unrest, labour unrest, and negotiations with the unions in an electoral year next year. that is jimena blanco, a regular here, she is from argentina, and to clarify, head of america's at the risk management firm verity. now let's brief you on some other business stories. an american football star who sparked a furore by kneeling during the national anthem has been unveiled as the new face of a major advertising campaign. it's being reported that the former san francisco 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick will front nike's "just do it" 30th anniversary campaign. in 2016 kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem in protest at police violence against african—americans. we will be talking about that as

well in the news briefing — that is coming up. throughout the week, we are looking at some of the biggest start—ups in latin america. tallis gomes is often considered one of brazil's top tech entrepreneurs. in 2011 he started easy taxi by convincing taxi drivers to buy smartphones so they could offer rides on his new app. this was before the likes of uber arrived in brazil. he sold that business for millions of dollars, and now he's started a new business aimed at disrupting the beauty industry. if you look at the beauty sector, the biggest innovation we can see is the biggest innovation we can see is the salon starting to serve champagne, nothing comparative with the real work we are talking about, how to disrupt the business model. so, we basically deliver manicures,

massages and brazilian whack at your home —— wax at your home or review work. the beauty salon for example usually charges 70% from the service provider. we in voted this logic and we charge 30% and we pay them another 70%. it allows us to have much lower price and increase the income, as they start to work together with us. my mother used to bea together with us. my mother used to be a hairdresser. and my family

passed through really tough times. so, when i look at this situation, i thought that there should be a better way to give these artists, as we call them, artists, and opportunity to make some money. and how can we give an artist and opportunity to make money? just give them clients, you know, give them a platform to manage her money. that is the business, see you in a moment. nearly half of nursery providers in england say the government's scheme to provide 30 hours of free child care has had a negative financial impact on their business. however, the free provision for 3— and 4—year—olds, introduced this time last year, has proved highly popular with parents, as 0livia richwald reports. it was a vote winning offer, 30

hours a week of free childcare for working parents of three and four —year—olds in england and it saved families thousands of pounds a year. i don't pay a penny now because of the 33 hours. it is like nearly £300 a month in money i have saved. the government has been accused of not finding it properly. 8000 members of the preschool learning alliance were sent a survey, 1300 replied and of them 843 said the fees paid by the government were less than their hourly rate, and more than 400 said the scheme was putting a strain on their finances. we are seeing closures almost on a daily basis, settings that have been around for 20- 25 settings that have been around for 20— 25 years, that frankly have just said that the new offer, the 30 hour

funded places offer, isjust said that the new offer, the 30 hour funded places offer, is just the final nail in the coffin. like many involved in the scheme, this bradford nursery is now asking pa rents for bradford nursery is now asking parents for top up fees. here it is £3a parents for top up fees. here it is £3 a day but elsewhere it can be up to £10 a day. if we are not viable, then we disappear and loss of providers have disappeared. my pa rents providers have disappeared. my parents have been very, very understanding. they are willing to pay because they love our nursery. the department for education says the rate it pays for childcare only and not for additional services and meals. it says it has commissioned new research looking into the costs of childcare and adds that 80% of providers around the country have been willing to take part this scheme. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: several countries in europe are experiencing record numbers of cases of measles. health authorities say too many parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children. italy is among the worst affected.

four people died of measles there last year. tens of thousands of people have attended a free concert in the german city of chemnitz against the anti—immigrant demonstrations that have been held there. the far—right protests began after the fatal stabbing of a local man. the sports brand nike has said its new advertising campaign will feature colin kaepernick, the former american football quarterback who protested against police brutality towards african—america ns by kneeling during the playing of the us national anthem. now, it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the china daily. they devote their whole front page to the china—africa summit and beijing's investment in the continent, but there's no mention in their coverage of some of the concerns raised about the deals. to the new york times, and it says sweden's status as a so—called "moral super power" is uncertain. it shows a campaigner for a populist

party and explains the nationalists are set to seize votes in sunday's election. the times here in the uk now, where doctors have been told to use plain english. they should ditch latin and complicated medical terms when writing prescriptions and write in language a teenager could understand, according to advice from a ruling body. the sun covers what it calls a row over an all—female panel on a bbc show. the editor of a new political programme hit out at someone on social media who criticised the lack of males in the line—up as shameful. and we've been speaking about brands this morning,