of italian sausage on it. but i like a lot of meat. >> so a bit like you. fiery. >> yes. >> emotional. >> yes. >> passionate. >> meaty. >> bursting in meat and substance. >> yes. substance. thanks, piers. >> it was a pleasure. >> it was a pleasure. i've enjoyed it. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com coming up on hello, i'm monita rajpal. they're digging for survivors following sunday's 7.2 earthquake. dozens collapsed and more than 200 people have been killed. cnn diana magna is near the scene a few hours ago and joins us and what did you see? >> reporter: well for people

here it's agony of waiting. a father who is trying to find out whether his two sons are still alive in the rubble. before we talked to him he found out that they had found one of his sons dead and trying to bring him out now. you get a real sense from all the people standing here waiting to find out news about loved ones in these numerous buildings that have collapsed as they see pieces of their lives, furniture, bits and pieces and all they want to know is that their loved ones are safe. they're using sound checks, dogs, hundreds of rescue workers mobilized to van where i am and 200 -- more than 200 people killed in both. that is the death toll as we know it now. it could well rise, of course, as the search goes on. monita? >> all right, diana, thank you very much for that. we'll continue to check in with diana for the very latest out of

turkey. that is the top story from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. good morning from cnn londolondo london. i'm charles hodson. our top stories on october 24th. stock markets rally as investors cheer a possible end to the debt stalemate in europe. floodwaters close in on two more industrial estates in bangkok. residents ask why their suburbs are being sacrificed to save the business district. and thousands line the streets of auckland to celebrate the all blacks victory in the rugby world cup. is the last a good investment for host nations. european leaders say they're getting close story solving the region's debt crisis.

and even without details investors do seem convinced a resolution is on its way. here's where the major stock markets stand about an hour into the trading day. we are looking at gains of right about 0.5% for the london ftse enfor the paris cac 40. and adding to the general mood of confidence is a set of fresh figures from china fueling confidence in global growth. more on that in a moment. the main story is the sovereign debt crisis and all of that news comes as the pressure mounts on european leaders' way out and disbursement of $11 billion but european leaders don't have that long to hammer out a solution to europe's debt problems.

they have until wednesday for that. for more on that we're joined by nina dos santos from brussels where the european leaders have been meeting. ni nina, what really came out of that summit apart from obviously the decision to disperse $11 billion to greece. >> reporter: after hours of negotiations that ended late last night, eu leaders broadly said they are coming closer to some kind of agreement but when those discussions ended up just 72 hours away from the finish line wednesday of the details of any kind of agreement that they're any closer to is sketchy at best. the one thing they can agree on is that the kind of problems they're trying to resolve are n unprecedented in terms of their complexity. that's something that the angela merkel was at pains to stress during a conference with nicolas sarkozy of france. [ speaking german ]

>> translator: not one expert can tell us which solution would work for the whole group. we as political leaders are responsible for finding those solutions. >> reporter: now, one of the things that categorized their negotiations for months if not years is the fact that france and germany have often seemed dividely on exactly how to deal with the eurozone debt crisis and how to deal with the potential write-down that investors and greek bond was have to take on to their balance sheet. as you saw, they tried to present a joint front. they're hosting a joint news conference. one of the interesting side story, what went on yesterday in brussels was that reportedly it was the turn of david cameron, the uk prime minister to clash with sarkozy of france amid concerns that some of the -- out of the 27 eu state tass don't belong to the eurozone could be leaned on particularly the

united kingdom as one of the n non-eurozone members to try and help out to solve this crisis because, of course, charles, as we all know everybody has something at stake here. >> well, this summit, of course, has been billed as the start of five days to save the euro. how do things go from here? the next meeting is on wednesday, right, nina? >> reporter: yeah, and we have been promised by the president of the european council, also the president of the european commissi commission, emphatically stressing yesterday late in the evening in a press conference that ended the day's talks that there will be a decision. that has been repeated to me on many occasions, even by the head president of the european parliament, there's no question of not having a decision by wednesday. the big question, what will be included in that decision and if we don't get a decision this

problem risks becoming more than just a eurozone problem or indeed a european problem but could affect the global economy and that means that some of the people that were here yesterday and were back wednesday will have to answer to the g-20 when that gets under way in the south of france the start of next month. >> nina, thank you very much. joining us live from brussels. well, the weekend summit there was well received by investors, has been well received by investors in europe and also has been well received by investors in asia. asia business analyst ramy inocencio joins us. >> markets here in asia starting this week off strong even though there wasn't a concrete plan, it still seems like investors are pleased with the progress made so far in the promise of resolution coming by maybe this wednesday. new figures from china gave investors a reason to buy.

monthly surveyed by hbc shows a strong sector. the pmi, purchaser manager's indecks rose and those figures sparked a jump on the main markets in hong kong driving the broader rally is the resource sector, rio tinto up almost 5% while others are going up as a vote of confidence for economic growth. back to you. >> okay, ramy, thank you very much. wall street is starting out the week at its highest level in three months. the dow surged 267 points on friday. that was nearly a 2 1/2% gain. the nasdaq was up by nearly 40 points or 1 1/2%.

for the week both the dow and the s&p rose by a little bit more than 1%. but the nasdaq, the tech stocks actually lost 1% over the week. well, in terms of monday's trading, u.s. markets do look set for gains when the trading begins, what, in about 5 1/2 hours from now, 5 hours and 0 minutes. here's where futures stand in the premarket action and some gains building on top of the strength of friday. up about half a percent or even under for the nasdaq. in relief in sight for thailand as the country prepares for even more flooding. we'll count the costs when we return. for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on...

...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee.

wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. who need imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today.

the worst flooding to hit thailand in 50 years is taking a massive human toll and huge economic one, as well. more than half a dozen industrial parks are under water and more are now threatened as

the water rises, so does the anger of displaced residents who feel the government is sacrificing their homes to save businesses. pell, paula hancocks joins us live from bangkok on where the water is going. the government is facing some difficult decisions it seem. >> reporter: absolutely, charles. the preparations are being made in central bangkok as well in case the water gets this far. the building where we are at this point, the sandbags are coming out and they are making sure that they're taking every precaution in case the water does get this far. now, authorities are hopeful that it won't get to the central business district which is where we are at this point but the waters have been inching forward. we've seen the domestic airport. this is ironically where the headquarters of the flood relief operations command is, that is seeing flooding around the area.

they have to move and have their headquarters elsewhere. there's about 3,500 evacuaees bt no plans to move them. another in a university that's now been flooded and they're being moved further into bangkok into a stadium. it looks like according to authorities it could be saved but that's little comfort to those in the suburbs. either struggle through the rising waters as best you can or move your family into a tiny tent surrounded by thousands of other evacuees. not much of a choice for these bangkok residents. anger is spreading in some suburbs as residents question why their neighborhoods are being sacrificed to divert water away from the central business district. >> we feel sorry about the people who get stuck in the flooding but in case of the recent, we need to keep the capital city because this is

very important to keep the economic of thailand. >> reporter: the prime minister came into power in july just as heavy monsoons were starting to cause the floods but she's confident she can keep the water out of central bangkok. she rejects accusations she's too inexperienced to handle the crisis telling cnn this is no time for politics, only unity. this doctor is one of the heads of the government's flood relief operations. he shows me the 400 kilometer stretch of thailand that is flooded pink for floods, white for dry land. >> people ask me the worst case scenario for bangkok. the worst case scenario if the dike cannot hold it will be come down rapidly. >> reporter: he believes the chances of dikes failing is slim. the water hasn't reached the eastern bangkok industrial estate here but it will. these soldiers will be working through the night to build up the main defenses. each factory has also made its

own preparations. these employees have to keep watch overnight until the waters come. this man tells me i'm not worried about the water, we've been preparing for this for two weeks. seven other industrial estates north of bangkok have already been inundated. in honda factory along with hundreds of cars has been underwater for than a week. the cost so far is estimated by the government to be almost $6.5 billion. now, the waters of the river which runs through bangkok are still said to be rising and authorities at this point say they don't think things will start to get better for at these weeks and the waters could around for up to six weeks. charles? >> in terms of everyday economic life clearly that seems to be what the government is prioritizing but in terms of everyday life presumably as far

as one can tell virtually at a sta standstill, is it? >> reporter: no the central business district, no. there's certainly no sense of standle still. people are getting on with things as best as they can. it accounts for 40% of this country's gdp so it is inevitable that they'll put most of the focus on maintaining the area. if they want's chance of restructuring the flooded parts it has to keep the economics of bangkok intact and, of course, it has to make sure that the tourism industry continues. it's a very popular industry here in thailand. the central bank of thailand at this point says that they believe the cost to the gdp of this country could be about 1%, the growth was expected to be about 4.1% t could be 3.1% because of these floods but these are very initial figures and could actually get worse.

charles? >> paula, in terms of just the logistic, if you like of being a tourist or visiting business person in bangkok, if you or i were to arrive at the airport in bangkok today, would we be able to get into town? would we be get a connecting flight to one of the islands or tourist areas? how do things look there? >> reporter: well, at this point you could land at the international airport, the domestic airport is currently in evacuation center but you could land at the international airport and come into town and you could really not be able to tell that there were floods happening. the central part is intact. it is carrying on as normal and the prime minister i spoke to yesterday shinawatra told me they believe the flooding system is good enough to keep the wears out. once you go out to the suburbs, further northeast or west, that's when you see the true misery and, of course, it's about 400 kilometers up north

that is being affected as well. not just around the suburbs of bangkok. this is a widespread flooding. the worst in about 50 years but the central part has been untouched at this point, charles. >> okay, paula hancocks joining us live in bangkok as the sandbagging continues behind her. thank you very much, indeed. as europe battles to resolve its debt crisis, conversation is focused on how much of a haircut the holders of greek debt might take. if you're confused about this, you definitely don't want to mix our next story. >> a strategy it roubini economics and together armed with a wig and a sharp pair of scissors we'll examine how much money greek bond holders are going to have to chop of the value of their investments.

and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

a quick look at world currencies and as you can see we're seeing one of the themes that we're looking at in terms of these numbers is a bit of an unwinding of bets in the dollar as a safe haven currency so, for example, that 1.5963 we're seeing on the cable is a six-week high. both the pound and also a bit stronger against the euro. euro a shade below 1.38 to the dollar.

japanese yen, 76.22. the so-called haircut is already looking as if it won't make the cut. nina dos santos gives an economist a haircut to demonstrate what investors might have to endure. >> reporter: as eu leaders battle to try to solve the eurozone's financial crisis holders of greek debt are trying to figure out how much of a haircut they'll have to take. we're not talking about average bangs and sighs here but more complicated and certain to cost plenty more money. michael hart is fx strategist at roubini economics and together armed with a wig and a sharp pair of scissors we'll examine how many money greek bond holders will to have chop of the value of their investments. so, michael, the big has come. are you ready for your haircut. >> yes, let's do it. >> reporter: we discovered just as with europe one size doesn't

always fit all and that applies to wigs, as well. sorry. there you go. i think you're ready. for your haircut. with the economy shrinking and deficits widen greece can't pay back its 350 billion euros of debt and investors want to see some of their money back, it's likely they'll have to take a write-down of 10%, 21%, 50%, maybe even more. realistically speaking what does a 10% haircut need. >> i think 10% won't cut it for investors or for greece. if you think about what affects sustainability, it's a number of factors, economic growth, physical performance, the interest rate greece has to pay and greece has underperformed an/lot of these elms so far.

>> we've had about a 21% haircut. that was largely voluntary. >> it still has to work itself out and remember those 21% are in terms of net present value so that's not something that will necessarily fit into the debt to gdp ratio. >> i think you need more off the back. i'm going to cut off a 50% chunk. is that what we're talking about. >> a 00% chunk, we're talking about a real cut. there is another snag, out of the 350 billion they have in debt, some are owned by the official sector so in order to get a 50% reduction, you would need 70% to 80% on the bond debt. >> okay. i'm taking off 70% to 80%. before we finish this segment, is greece going to default on

all of its obligations? is there a risk it could go bald. >> i think what we do need in this case is a scalping, there is the sheer con cajun to other countries and sheer precedent and solving the debt problem isn't the only problem they face but the competitiveness issue and harsh adjustments that lie ahead. >> is there anything that you think governments can do to make this haircut look more attractive? >> well, i'm not really sure about that but one effective way to achieve the desired outcome would be for greece to start threatening to default. >> that could mean going back to square one. nina dos santos, cnn, london. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on...

...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. who need imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today.

from cnn london, i'm charles hodson, welcome back to "world business today." stock markets have opened higher thanks in part to confidence that the debt solution is on its way. new figures from china also fueling confidence in global growth. here we are looking at up 0.5% in the case of the london ftse and zurich smi, paris cac 40 up by 0.25%. we were saying the dax was up by 3 1/2%. i doubted that. that is true. it is up by about 1% at the moment, the frankfurt market. it's fairly safe to say nicolas

sarkozy has had better weekends than the one just part. not only was france beaten in the rugby world cup and more on that later, as well, but also on sunday, mr. sarkozy who as you remember recently became a father again, his proposal that the european central bank write a blank check to the european central bank was rejected by germany. more from jim bittermann. it does seem as if mr. sarkozy has suffered a bit of a setback in that he's had to give in to angela merkel. is that the way it's seen in france? >> reporter: well, a little bit, charles. i expect with fatherhood he probably comes unbalanced. it was a difficult week for a lot of the leaders and mr mr. sarkozy in particular and the run-in he had with a couple of british ministers including a

prime minister basically saying they should stick their noses out of the eurozone affairs and he seems to have lost that one because he wanted to have this meeting on wednesday that is supposed to resolve the eurozone crisis limited to eurozone members but he seems to have lost that and now going to be all 27 members of europe that will be gathering on wednesday. basically what he did say that seemed really positive was that he believes that europe is moving toward a durable and ambition solution and that was reflected in a couple of his ministers were saying saying he's convinced that europe is moving toward a resolution of the crisis and said this we know where we're going and know we want to avoid a greek default and we know the impact this is having on the world economies and the government spokesman was more grandiose this morning

saying, i think that france has a rendezvous with its own history and with european history and as a rendezvous we're not going to miss and when they start talking about that there must be something big in the works. >> yes, maybe even a compromise and perhaps we've seen the start of that already. to what extent does mr. sarkozy need to mind his own back because we've had this big -- a big news flow about the federal state elections in germany which have really almost incapacitated angela merkel's ability to lead forward. to what extent does mr. sarkozy feel he won't suffer a political stab in the back in terms of his own supporters? >> reporter: i think one of the things that that's happening, elections are still a ways away but nonetheless, he has to begin worrying about that and one of the thing, one of the key

things's has to offer is his expertise in foreign policy. and part of that expertise is in mastering the crises exactly like this. so i think he has to show something out of this. more particularly out of the g-20 summit coming up and i think that's really the real worry between now and then it would be much better for him if his political standpoint if he could have a crescendo of building successes, but it doesn't appear right now that that's a 150% guarantee. all this optimism we're hearing from him, if it pans out wednesday and leads to further agreement down the line and at the g-20 summit then, you know, it will definitely help him. anything less than that could damage his political fortus here as -- in the leadup to the may 2012 elections. charles? >> okay, jim bittermann joining us live from paris. many thanks with his take on the french view of what's going on.

markets in asia off to a strong start despite the lack of details from the european summit. one concrete decision, the disbursement of $11 billion to greece. they seem content with the progress so far. new figures from china also gave them a reason to buy. a monthly survey released by hsbc shows a strengthening manufacturing sector. the purchasing managers index rose to 51.1 and that is a five-month high. any figure above 50 indicates growth so 51.1 sounds good. u.s. investors are growing increasingly hopeful about a resolution to europe's debt crisis. the dax a gain. standard & poor's index picked up 23 points, or nearly 2% for the week. both the dow and s&p rose a

little more than 1%. the nasdaq lost 1% on the week. u.s. markets look set for gains when trading begins just a few hours from now. and here is where u.s. futures stand in the premarket action. up by right about 0.50% for the dow and nasdaq a little less for the tech stocks, the nasdaq, s&p 500, broader market dragging it a little but still up by 0.25% and clearly under five hours to go to the open. aftless than three weeks af steve jobs died his authorized biography goes on sale. former cnn chairman awalter isaacson wrote it. he gave an interview less than two months before his death. it is the number one best-seller

right now on amazon and barnesandnoble.com and earlier they spoke to "60 minutes." why did he refuse cancer treatment for so long. >> i think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking and it had worked for him in the past. he regretted some of the decisions he made and certainly felt he should have been operated on sooner. >> well, publishers moved up the book's release date in light of jobs' death which sparked interest in the computer genius who was also very private in many ways. you're watching "world business today" h we come back we'll focus on the arab spring. the uprisings have just cost one dictator his life but in addition to the political impact, the economic cost of all this turmoil is mounting and look at that straight ahead.

and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

from cnn london i'm charles hodson. welcome back to "world business today." thailand continues to be invorad by its worst floods. food supply chains are being affected. in this case, rice. thailand is the world's number one exporter of the commodity. many analysts expect the global price of rice to increase because of the damage to thai farmland. ramy inocencio joins us with more. ramy? >> the price of rice has also rocketed year to date. it says the price of rough rice, rice that hasn't been milled has risen nearly 17% since the start of this year. first of all in january, well, it was trading at about $100 or

so. this is per ton. but ever since then over the past ten months it's now trading at a little over $1,670 per ton right now and with the massive flooding that's been hitting thailand, the price of rice is just not expected to recede and that is simply because of a loss of supply. thailand had been forecast to harvest this much race in 2011. 25 million tons in this year alone. it may lose 6 million tons of this or a full quarter of that harvest. thailand's office of agricultural economics says the new post-flood estimate is expected to be 19 million tons. the damage isn't exactly just confined to thailand. the u.n. world agricultural foundation says thailand as well as cambodia are bearing the brunt, 12% of rice farmland in both these countries has been damaged. moderate damage has been

sustained in lao and the philippines. in in l achao they put it at 8% philippines, 6%, because of several typhoons but for vietnam, just 0.4% of rice -- of rice farmlapd has been hit. this low statistic is a thin silver lining since the second largest exporter after thailand. rice exports, they are expected to fall a whopping 30% to 10 million tons. the floods, of course, are one reason new thai subsidies making rice more expensive and india's return to rice export something a third, charles. >> ramy inocencio, many thanks. so how much longer will the floods in thailand continue and is there more rain on the way? ivan cabrera is at the cnn weather center. is the pain going to stop in

thailand? >> no, it is not. not for awhile anyway. when we talk about river flooding it takes a while for things to flood and then it takes a while for the floods to recede. it's not like a flash flood and thailand is surrounded, bangkok in particular by all these rivers and tributaries and all swollen and overflowing their banks and all that water is trying to drain out and trying to find the path of least resistance. sometimes that is overpopulated areas so the good folks in bangkok is trying to protect the cdb from the water impending and moving ever so close, of course, the neighborhoods worst affect reasonable doubt to the north and east where we have the significant water standings but all of that will continue to flow the south. it will take some for that to happen. the domestic airport as we've been showing, there's tents in there as opposed to folks getting in and around. the airports a shelter even that

may not be safe. we'll get some flooding there and areas where folks have been evacuated to. they've been evacuated from there because of rising water. another problem we have is the high tide. it's working against us. as the water tries to drain to the south water gets pushed to the north as a result of the typical tides here so we have some times during the day when we have that occurring so we get backwash as a result so pictures like this, i think will continue although again as paula hancocks has been pointing out we do not have significant flooding in the central business district and we're hoping for that to continue. watch the monsoon here. it's disappearing moving down to the south. not expecting any significant rains over the next several days, that's the way it's been and that's the way it's going to be. sure, a few showers here but not monsoonal rains that caused this in the first place just months and months' worth of rain over the next few day, light showers but nothing that would contribute to what has already

happened. all that water will continue and take some time to get down to the gulf thailand. we'll keep you posted. >> okay, ivan cabrera joining us live from the cnn international weather center, thank you very much. last week's death of moammar gadhafi was yet more confirmation of the winds of political change that have been sweeping north africa and the middle east. the arab spring has had an economic impact, unemployment is rising, tax revenues are down. and costs are mounting. as we found out, change can also be very expensive. >> reporter: it has changed the political landscape but come at a heavy economic cost. the worst affected countries including libya and tunisia have losses of $56 billion in terms of income and extra spending and have seen a drastic reduction in revenues because for many of these countries, their economies are at a virtual standstill.

yemen, for instance, has seen its revenues fall sharply down 77%. libya has seen revenues drop by 84%. funding for the recovery process for these countries is needed urgently. now, in september, the international community including the g-8, some of the wealthier arab countries and institutions like the world bank, promised $38 billion in financing for egypt, tunisia, morocco and jordan. countless other pledges were made back in may, but despite the promises, much of the money has yet to be delivered and the imf says the cost of recovery for those north african economies is more than $160 billion over the next three years. leone la ckhani, abu dhabi. thousands gathered to celebrate the all blacks victory in the final of the world cup

but organizing the cup is a huge loss to the host nation. whether that investment will pay off. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today.

local rugby fans have something to cheer about. the all blacks fought off a

stiff challenge from france. narrowly defeating them by 8-7. it was their first world cup win in 24 years and rugby mad new seal anders were in the mood to celebrate. they reached a crescendo earlier today. >> reporter: this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for new zealanders cheering on their famous team of all blacks as they parade through auckland as rugby's new world champions. we've seen people on top of phone boxes, on top of bus shelters leaning out of office windows, getting any vantage point they can to see captain richie mccaw and his boys with that famous webb ellis trophy. so much closer than they expected against france, a one-point margin of victory but maybe that makes the success all the sweeter. this won't be the only parade that the all blacks team does,

they're going to go on to other cities too, most nosably christchurch and that's very poignant. that town suffered a devastating earthquake earlier and damaged the stadium there and meant they couldn't host any world cup games. as the trophy is lifted again, every time it is, the crowd cheers. they are relishing this moment and why shouldn't they? world cup organizers say this tournament will be played out in a stadium of 4 million. the population of this country and by common consent they delivered that. the all blacks' victory was just the icing on the cake. alex thomas, cnn, auckland, new zealand. >> well, after the party comes the hangover. for new zealand, pretty expensive. 31 u.s. million dollars to be precise. how much their taxpayers are in the red for hosting the world cup even though the international board is walk ago way from the event with a profit

of more than $150 million. so is that multi-million dollar loss to the country actually money well spent? alex thomas put that question to rugby world cup ceo martin snedman me snedman. >> we went in with the eyes open. we'll make a loss of $39 million. the challenge was to turn that into an investment as opposed to lay loss-making venture to make sure we created the platform that new zealand could lever itself off in a profiling sense and business sense and our challenge also was to invigorate new zealand to actually do that. two or three years ago i was thinking people are taking a little bit too long to get themselves under way here so part of the role of the team was to light a bit of a fuse under the business sector and under other communities and get them going.

well, they did. in the end they stood up and took on full responsibility for this year and i think they did a damn good job. new zealand is a small country. yes, we love rugby but we've only got over 4 million people. geographically we're isolated from most of the international rugby market. we had the earthquakes come along that resulted in eight matches being taken out at christchurch and placed elsewhere with every ticket sale being canceled and started zero in all of those matches. >> reporter: such a rugby loving area, as well. >> that's right and have had this economic recession that most of the western world has been struggling with which i think has gone on a lot longer then bitten deeper than perhaps what any of us thought a couple of years ago so we've had to face up to those challenges. on the plus side we've got a nation of people that love rugby. it's part of their dna and a nation that i think saw the opportunity to have a bit of fun after the difficulties of the

last 12 months or so and found it was time to let themselves go and have a party, so it's been a bumpy road but a good one and there is a huge amount of speculation in the office that we've made it in terms of ticket revenues. >> reporter: do you think new zealand will host another rugby world cup? >> yes, the 2035 rugby world cup. that's 24 years from now. i think before this tournament started, most people would have said, no, there's not much chance. i think what we've demonstrated just during the torn is because of our uniqueness, because of our emotion in rugby that we have something we can bring to the rugby world cup event that every so often is going to be more important than straight revenues and i think that the circle will turn and i think that in five or six world cups' time people will be starting to look back at new zealand and say, hey, it's time we go back to this country again.

we need this sort of injection into the tournament. >> reporter: is that confirmed or your prediction. >> no, that's my prediction. i'm not sure i'll be around in 2035 but when i'm sort of reflecting on this tournament afterwards, i'll be smiling because i think the whole of new zealand has been smiling and that's all i want. >> the ceo of rugby world new zealand rugby world cup. if you want to comment, all you have to do is go to facebook.com/cnnwbt and let us know your thoughts. meanwhile, that's it for this edition of "world business today." i'm charles hodson in london. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader.