get the signature of allan allan and that's a complete game changer, but we'll have to see what happens. but right now the focus is on the final set to take place in paris. chris, thank you so much. chris harrington from dw sport. thank you. you're watching d w news, steven beardsley, you'll be here in just a moment with business news for you. of course, you'll find all the latest news information anytime you want online at t w dot com. i'm terry martin. thanks. watch. with one of mankind's oldest ambitions could be within reach or what is it really is possible to reverse aging

researchers and scientists all over the world loreno race against time. they are peers and rivals with one daring goal to outsmart nature. more life starts may 28th on the w. ah, china 0 cove policies are rattling foreign companies in the country. a new survey now shows a majority of those firms expect losses this year, and that more are closing their pocketbooks to further investment in china in the near term. also on the show, markets are upbeat after the federal reserve only raises interest rates by half a percentage point the largest optic in more than 20 years. welcome to the show.

i'm see from beardsley in berlin. china's 0 cove. it policy has european companies . they're bracing for losses and reconsidering their investments. that's according to a new survey from the european chamber of commerce. more than a core are of the 370 firms participating in the survey said they're thinking about pausing investments or moving them to other markets. and that's double the number from 2 months ago. almost 60 percent of those questions projected lower revenues for the year. beijing's 0 coven policy has resulted in lockdown in the manufacturing hub of sion. gen, as well as the world's largest port. shanghai is not just b. james coburn policy was causing problems for the chinese economy. d, w. businesses, china analyst clifford conan, takes a look at the challenges facing the world 2nd biggest economy. supply chains are struggling to keep product moving. retail sales or falling restaurants and catering are suffering. industrial production is slowing. unemployment is on the rise. almost every metric suggest beijing's official forecast of 5.5 percent growth this

year is too optimistic. some analysts reckon the china will grow below 5 percent in 2022, a rate not seen since the fall at from the gentleman square massacre in 1989. she jim paying is expected to seal an unprecedented 3rd term as leader this fall. but his power push comes against the background of 3 major challenges to the economy. china's property market has been in crisis since last summer. that's when the financial troubles of china ever ground group sparked to sell off and a giant property companies, bonds, and other developers. property developments for accounts for around a quarter of china's economy. and china's top 100 developers monthly contracted sales volume fell for the 8 straight month in february, plunging almost by half compared to a year earlier. since the beginning of 2021 around it doesn't, chinese developers defaulted around $14000000000.00 worth of offshore and domestic bonds. the government is trying to sure of the damage, but the emphasis on housing for living rather than speculation means the heady days

of massive growth are likely over china's choice to stand with russia over it's invasion of ukraine is putting serious strain on globalization. the u. s. warrens that beijing stance could result in secondary sanctions on chinese firms that could cause further problems for the tech sector, which is heavily reliant on western components. the most significant acute problem is the 0 covert issue. my colleagues, old song hahn in taipei has this for us. thanks, clifford. i'm 45 chinese cities are currently close affecting 375000000 people are about a quarter of china's population for the global economy. the supply chain will be particularly har, hit by the lot downs. if we look at son, he has been closed for more than a month, although the number of cases has dropped significantly. the chinese economy is probably centered in big cities like sal hi, in about half of apples supplies are locates near some high sins and or quin san 2

chinese here. my indexes have been below 50 for 2 consecutive month indicating that the economy it in decline. chinese president sheet him, he is now facing a dilemma on the one hand he wants to ensure stable economy growth, which is crucial for his on that i am on anonymous. reelection is full by the hand . his insistence on 0 call. the policy is a key factor that stifles economic growth, which no one dares to openly oppose thanks to its own hon. anti pay for that. as we can see, 3 major challenges facing the world's 2nd largest economy. 3 major major challenges . well, 45 chinese cities are currently under lockdown. that's what we just heard from. so among them, the world's largest port shanghai. earlier today, i had a chance to speak with your booker, he's president of the chamber of commerce in china. i asked him if there were signs that bay gene was ready to turn away from its controversial lockdown policy. that's unfortunately no assigned. and again, maybe the pain has to get deeper in order for them to change. and the 2 walks of 0

tolerance. i mean, today we had the p. m i coming off of services. i see in this covering primarily the east coast as well as the private chinese enterprise in the service sector. and it was a dismal of 36.2 percent. so our survey and this kind of feedback indicates that economic damage is quite severe. the has to be a change, and all the members are requesting a change and we came up with recommendations. how to do this? do you believe that companies really are prepared to move their production, their investment elsewhere? if they don't see a change? i don't see your big company is actually moving out of china and moving them say to bangkok or to k k l a. what we are trying to indicate is that a headquarters of putting additional investment into china on hold, meaning that reconsidering if there has to be more of their products and product production in china. and that doesn't mean it's moving out, is just not moving in and meaning it's relocating to other locations. but again,

of course, that has a significant impact on employment as well as on high tech in china. so the danger of what china is of missing the train that china has said that expects to see 5 and a half percent growth this year. many analysts have looked at that and said, that's not realistic. how do you see it? the 5.5 is all the windows no way. i mean we had a very good 1st quarter for 4.8 percent plus the believe, right? but again, it all indications are that the economy, particularly of course, the dell just starting in the last week in march has been in free fall traffic is down transportation traffic down in shop by 80 percent across china, 70 percent, and even a province that has no lockdown whatsoever like one door is down by 50 percent, and that's not going to change. i mean, again, we are facing near lockdown conditions in beijing. that is of course, more service oriented economy is not really strong in manufacturing. but how is

that all gonna end? i think 4 percent at best it is going to be achieved and again, it's a long way to get there. all right, we'll leave it at that. your focus. he's president of the chamber of commerce in china. thank you very much. thank you. and now to some of the other global business stories making headlines, those locked downs in china are adding to problems for german companies. industrial orders, their slumped 4.7 percent in march compared to the previous month. that's according to the federal statistical office. uncertainty around russia's war and ukraine is one factor wing and producers. as are rising energy prices. backing the trend beams of you says its 1st quarter was boosted by its chinese operations. the german luxury car maker reported earning earnings up to 16 percent to 31000000000 euros. the company credited the strong increase to the consolidation of its chinese joint

venture b, m. w brilliance, automotive and high demand for its premium vehicles. rising ticket sales and the 1st quarter helped keep germany's flagship airline tonda in year despite high fuel costs compared to the same period last year. the airlines net losses fell by 40 percent using a just 580000000 euros. the company pledge to expand its offering in the coming quarters to reduce bosses further. volkswagen meanwhile, nearly doubled its 1st quarter net profits compared to the same period. last year. it also maintained its annual guidance groups. largest car maker raked in 6700000000 euros in the 1st 3 months of the year. it dodged the major hit from supply chain bottlenecks. by providing factories in the us in china with unused semiconductors from europe or global markets have generally welcome the decision by the u. s. federal reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate by just half

a percentage point in an effort to beat back record price increases. inflation in the u. s. is at a 40 year high. the rate hike is actually the largest single optic by the fed in more than 2 decades. and some investors feared the fed might do more. higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive, cutting into business profits and restraining growth in fed. chairman jerome powell said yesterday, the cutting inflation was critical. the economy in the country have been through a lot over the past 2 years and approved resilient. it is essential that we bring inflation down if we are to have a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all more rate hikes are expected in the months ahead. but can monetary policy actually bring down us inflation that's been pushed up by stimulus policy? as well as energy costs. when we asked economists, chris for thornburg when he expects prices to come down, who's quite candid. i never, i look,

the increase in price is we're saying, of course, is, is largely driven by the $11.00 trillion dollars of stimulus that the federal reserve and congress is thrown at the u. s. economy candidly, vastly more than the economy needed relative to the type of economic shock at the pandemic created. the result of that, of course, is, is rapidly rising. prices were at 8 and a half percent inflation year over year. and candidly, given the pent up demand in our economy right now, take, for example, auto inventories that are basically 0. it's hard to see anything slowing down, given these relatively modest moves on the part of the fed. ergo, i don't think they're going to even come close to slowing inflation down a given this kind of policy. inflation is on the rise around the globe, not just in the u. s. and the fed is not the only central bank to tighten its policy. the bank of australia has now raised its main lending rate by a quarter of

a point that's it's biggest rate hike and over a decade in india. meanwhile, the r b i n d a central bank, surprise markets by raising rates there to 4.4 percent. and without warning or deli correspondence, our car to car has more this is a big move by the r v i and of for 8 high has come up a year. now, inflation has been the most pressing goes on for india months. now both re d as well as was in place and have been on an upward trajectory. in fact, a taylor placement breeze, the 70 percent my last month. and the i said that this was the thing that it was worried about. most the i was who talked about geopolitical pressures, implying essentially the ukraine, warren, it's impact on prices across the world and, and india as well. now the most immediate impact of this rate hike is going to be for the average because yuma, the ear miles are going to go up. but whether this will have an impact on the

playstation or not, that for me to be corresponded shore carts guide there in delhi, back when it was called facebook, it changed the internet forever. now it's corporate parent. meta is going for the real world opening its 1st brick and mortar store. that again, mostly to draw you back into an entirely virtual reality. the 1500 square foot meta store at the company's burlingame campus in california, opened this weekend features v r headsets smart glasses and related items. all products, of course, could also be bought online. and here's a reminder of the top business stories were falling free at this hour. china's 0 coven policy has european companies. they're bracing for losses and reconsidering their investments. that's according to a new survey from the e. u. chamber of commerce in china. more than a quarter of the 370 firms participating in the survey said they're thinking about pausing investments, or moving them to other markets. the federal reserve in the united states has

raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point. the biggest hi can 2 decades is meant to battle inflation just currently running at a 40 year high. that's it for me and the dw business team. you can find out more about these and other business stories online. check us out a d, w dot com slash business. we're also on youtube under the dw news channel. i'm stephen, beards in berlin. likes watching eco, india. oh, it feeds india's bread basket. the dandy 50 percent of the country's green comes, but if facing the ground water is growing scarce, dim as a research project is now helping farmers to better manage this precious resource.

eco india. next on d w. ah, what secrets lie behind these walls? discover new adventures in 360 degrees. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. d. w world heritage. 360. get the app now with water. it will appear is nature's most renewable resource. raining down on us from the sky to replenish reservoirs above and below crowd. but more and more places on our planet face serious shortages to the on eco india. we look at efforts to secure supplies.