World Business Report

Will Bain discusses the latest efforts to pull Lebanon out of its deepening economic crisis, as the IMF outlines the tough challenges ahead. Also on the programme, the CEO of DHL Express—one of the world’s biggest delivery firms—shares his view on doing business in an era of trade tariffs. And what happens when you let the computer do the driving? The BBC’s Theo Leggett has been finding out.

President Trump has threatened a 200% tariffs on alcohol imported from the EU in response to the EU's plan to impose a 50% tariff on US whiskey Donatella Versace is standing down as creative officer of the luxury fashion label, Versace And the UK's biggest supermarket Tesco has started a trial to give away food which is about to go out of date.

Sam Fenwick takes a closer look at Germany’s changing economic landscape. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the President of the central bank of Germany outlines how Germany and the EU plan to navigate today’s extraordinary challenges. Plus, Donald Trump has escalated a growing trade dispute, threatening a 200% tariff on EU alcohol imports. And in a record-breaking deal, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned MGX has invested $2 billion in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. What does this mean for the future of crypto and the region’s role in the digital economy?

The big event of 2021 that will shape economies all over the world for decades to come was the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow in November. The meeting saw a deluge of promises, but what was actually achieved? Martin Webber speaks to Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the International Energy Agency and economist Irwin Stelzer, from the Hudson Institute in the United States.It was another boom year for the pharmaceutical industry as it crafted the vaccines that have saved so many lives. Of the 8 billion coronavirus vaccinations worldwide, one billion have been delivered by the US logistics company, UPS. We hear from Wes Wealer, President of UPS healthcare.And small business owners have had a bleak time for much of the past year. But many of those that have survived now feel optimistic. We hear from the owner of the Aroma speciality coffee shop in Bologna in Italy, Cristina Caroli, about her year.

Covid-19 is set to prompt radical long term changes to how we live and work, so what lessons can be learnt when we eventually emerge from the pandemic? Could the changes in the way we work herald higher productivity and happier people in the future?We hear the stories of the people who managed to thrive during a very difficult year, including the milkman who saw a boom in deliveries and the dancer who found work in South Korea when the London stage went dark.Martin Webber is joined by Professor Devi Sridhar who holds the Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh; economist Roger Bootle, of Capital Economics; Robert Reich, former Labour Secretary under President Clinton; Tomas Philipson, who was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under Mr Trump; and actor Thomas Inge who is currentl starring in the musical Cats in South Korea.