Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

Business Matters

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Money

Global business and finance news and discussion from the BBC

Global business and finance news and discussion from the BBC.

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

Business Matters: US Economic Growth Slows to 0.5%

News

US Economic Growth Slows to 0.5%

29/04/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Matters, US Economic Growth Slows to 0.5%

US economic growth slowed to an annual pace of 0.5% during the first three months of 2016

With shoppers buying less, businesses have been reluctant to order new stock. A strong dollar has also put a brake on exports.

US economic growth slowed to an annual pace of 0.5% during the first three months of the year. That was a sharp fall from the 1.4% rate of growth in the last quarter of 2015 and the slowest pace in two years. The slowdown, which was bigger than most economists forecast, has been blamed on a fall in domestic demand and a strong dollar.

In 2015, Mexico's Congress approved the creation of an anti-corruption system in an effort to try and improve the country's reputation for graft. But despite these efforts to clean up its act, Transparency International still rates Mexico as the most corrupt OECD nation. And it's something that a growing number of citizens want to change as we hear from Katy Watson in Mexico City.

People texting on their cellphones while walking are bad enough - people who text while driving are potential killers. It's a practice outlawed across much of the world, but how to discourage it? Some people liken it to the campaign to stop people drinking and driving. In many parts of the world the police using a roadside breathalyser to detect alcohol intake has been an effective way of deterring drink driving. Now in New York legislation is planned to bring in a textalyser - basically a means of checking your mobile to see if you were texting just before an accident. We hear from Ben Lieberman who is co-founder of the campaign group Distracted Operators Risk Casualties and is working on getting the law passed. 

Japan says a satellite it launched at a cost of more than two-hundred-and-seventy million dollars has had to be abandoned.  The "Hitomi" satellite was sent into space in February to conduct research on black holes. We hear from space expert Dr Jah on the possible cause.

We are joined by two guests on opposite sides of the Pacific - DeRay McKesson, an activist and educator in Baltimore and Narayanan Madhavan, a journalist from Delhi.

(Picture:  A sheet of freshly printed one dollar bills. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Business Matters

US Economic Growth Slows to 0.5%

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service