Taking Stock: Heatwaves, Pensions and Tech Turbulence

Summary

Business Daily – Taking Stock: Heatwaves, Pensions and Tech Turbulence

Date: June 25, 2026
Host: Will Bay (BBC World Service)
Guests:

• Carsten Bresky (Chief Economist, ING, Frankfurt)
• Na Pham (Journalist, Hanoi, Vietnam)
• Rahul (Business Daily Contributor, market segment)

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Overview

This episode of Business Daily takes the pulse of a tumultuous week for global business, exploring the economic impact of ongoing heatwaves, key pension reforms in Germany and Vietnam, the volatility in tech stocks (notably SpaceX’s historic IPO), and the interconnected challenges facing energy, agriculture, and infrastructure. The panel shares insights from Europe and Asia, highlighting both global trends and local idiosyncrasies.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Global Heatwaves and Economic Fallout

• Widespread Impacts: Across Europe and Asia, unprecedented heat is affecting productivity, infrastructure, electricity supply, and public health, underscoring the economic costs of extreme weather.
  • Europe:
    • Record temperatures leading to reduced productivity (e.g., Le Mans, France, reports ~1.5% hit to productivity) and threats to infrastructure (melting highways, railway issues, low water levels disrupting river transport).
    • “We even saw if this lasts far too long... highways were literally melting away... the railways which can't stand the heat.” – Carsten Bresky [03:29]
  • Vietnam:
    • Residents are accustomed to high temperatures but now experiencing extreme levels (~46°C), causing rolling power cuts as air conditioning demand overwhelms the grid, hospitals crowding with heat-related illnesses.
    • “Electricity consumption jumps something like 15% and is overwhelmed... Aircons can’t cope with this heat, so we suffer from it.” – Na Pham [04:42]
• Social and Human Costs:
  • Risks to the vulnerable, as seen in France with increased mortality among elderly during heatwaves.
  • "There is also then really more loss. So not only economic damage, but there will also be human loss due to the heat wave." – Carsten Bresky [05:18]

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2. Pensions and Demographic Pressures: Europe vs Asia

• Germany’s Pension Reforms:
  • Major restructuring under Chancellor Merz: Linking retirement age to life expectancy (target age 70 by 2080), a move to contribution-based and capital markets-funded pensions, elimination of early retirement options, and expansion of the contributor base (including freelancers and politicians).
  • "If they don't manage to get this one through, then they're more or less doomed to fail and they can actually close the shop." – Carsten Bresky [07:41]
• Contrast with Vietnam:
  • Moving in the opposite direction by lowering the pension access age from 75 to 70 due to a still-young demographic and increased prosperity.
  • “Maybe that helps because Vietnam's population is relatively young.” – Na Pham [08:18]
• Perspective:
  • Demographic shifts are forcing major economies to reassess retirement and social support models, balancing fiscal sustainability with public sentiment.

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3. Trade Dependencies and Agricultural Volatility

• Vietnam’s Fruit Exports:
  • Heavy reliance on China as the primary buyer for Vietnamese durians (~90% exported there), raising risks if China alters its import policies.
    • “Talking about putting all the eggs in one basket. And if China suddenly decides to stop importing Vietnamese durians, I don't know what will happen.” – Na Pham [10:17]
• Lessons from Taiwan:
  • Similar problems after China halted imports of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, prompting sudden oversupply and creative new uses for the fruit domestically.
  • “If they not happy with us, they're going to stop buying from us and we will be basically in big trouble.” – Na Pham [11:21]

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4. “Heroes and Villains” of the Week

• Hero: Vietnamese Coffee & King Coffee’s CEO
  • Le Wang Zip Thao, CEO of King Coffee, recognized for promoting Vietnamese robusta coffee globally—exporting to 150 countries and spearheading the World Coffee Alliance.
  • "She’s been trying to find ways to promote other products as well... to make sure that people understand, appreciate and buy more Vietnamese coffee under her leadership." – Na Pham [13:53]
• Villain: Deutsche Bahn (German Rail)
  • Plagued by delays, broken air conditioning, and a recent full-system collapse due to technical faults (not heat-related).
  • "I had a sauna for free because there was no air conditioning functioning on the train." – Carsten Bresky [15:36]
  • Deutsche Bahn and UK rail companies both warned passengers to avoid travel due to ongoing heatwave-related risks.

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5. Tech Stock Turbulence: SpaceX IPO and Beyond

• SpaceX IPO:
  • Historic at $1.7 trillion valuation but saw a steep drop (down 30%, $400 billion market cap wiped out in a day).
  • “The stock has already fallen as much as 30% in just a few days... the second largest one day wipeout in stock market.” – Will Bay [18:27]
• AI and Semiconductor Stocks:
  • Nervousness and volatility across the sector, though some (like Taiwan’s TSMC) buck global trends by performing strongly.
  • “We know that there will be more investments needed to implement AI. And I personally think that AI will be the technology that will continue to disrupt the real economy.” – Carsten Bresky [19:08]
• Taiwan’s Resilience:
  • TSMC seen as a source of national pride, not exhibiting the same volatility as US counterparts; Vietnam’s (smaller) market remains relatively insulated.

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6. Oil Prices and Global Energy Dynamics

• Oil Prices Dip:
  • Back below pre-US/Israel conflict levels, potentially a boost for energy-importing nations like Vietnam.
  • “Definitely. I think it's great news. Great news.” – Na Pham [22:05]
• Cautious Optimism:
  • Carsten notes ongoing risks (e.g., insurance in the Strait of Hormuz, unresolved geopolitical tensions) may push prices higher again.
  • “We're still far from certain that we will get a successful deal between the US and Iran... the market has got carried away a little too much.” – Carsten Bresky [22:14]
• UK Context:
  • Record consumer energy debts (£4.79 billion owed), showing households are still struggling despite lower prices.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Algae and Heatwaves:
  "I saw a picture on social media... a banner somewhere over a US Highway saying that we can't even win against algae." – Carsten Bresky [01:53]
• Heat’s Economic Grip:
  "Productivity will go down in all of Europe... infrastructure will also suffer again, whether it's railways which can't stand the heat, highways, bridges." – Carsten Bresky [03:29]
• Vietnamese Power Cuts:
  “Hospitals actually getting really, really crowded with sick people. So I think it is a major impact on the society and economy.” – Na Pham [04:42]
• Germany Pension Reforms:
  “Retirement age will be linked to life expectancy... option for people to go into early retirement will also be cancelled.” – Carsten Bresky [06:49]
• China-Vietnam Fruit Dependency:
  "So basically, 90% of Vietnamese durians being sold to China... If China suddenly decides to stop importing Vietnamese durians, I don't know what will happen." – Na Pham [10:17]
• King Coffee's Vision:
  “They have just set up a so-called world coffee alliance with 21 countries joining in and hopefully they will be able to support each other to make coffees better and sell more coffees to other countries.” – Na Pham [13:53]
• Tech Volatility:
  “The stock has already fallen as much as 30% in just a few days. It also shed $400 billion in market cap in a single day, which was the second largest one day wipeout in stock market.” – Will Bay [18:27]
• Local vs Global Markets:
  “Vietnamese stock exchange is somewhat isolated and not really connected somehow to the world. So it stays unaffected.” – Na Pham [20:16]
• UK Energy Debt:
  “The amount of money owed by UK consumers to energy suppliers has risen to a new record high of £4.79 billion. So well over $5 billion.” – Will Bay [23:20]
• Vietnam vs UK on Energy Bills:
  “In Vietnam if you don't pay your bill, they'll just come to your doors… They will just cut it.” – Na Pham [24:00]

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Selected Timestamps for Major Segments

• Heatwaves and Economic Impact: 02:53–06:19
• German & Vietnamese Pension Reforms: 06:49–09:51
• China’s Effect on Vietnam & Taiwan Agriculture: 10:17–11:45
• Hero – King Coffee/Vietnamese Coffee: 13:30–14:44
• Villain – Deutsche Bahn: 15:36–16:54
• Tech Turbulence & SpaceX IPO: 17:51–21:07
• Oil Markets and Energy Issues: 21:30–23:45

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Tone and Style

• Conversational, lightly humorous, global perspective.
• Insightful comparisons and personal anecdotes.
• Mix of gravitas (heatwaves, pensions, energy), practical business commentary, and lighter moments (fruit wars, train saunas, coffee).

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Summary

This episode offers a whirlwind tour of the global economic weather: literally in the case of heatwaves crippling infrastructure and productivity, and figuratively through the winds of change battering pension systems, agricultural exports, technological fortunes, and energy supplies. Will Bay and his guests provide sharp local and global insights, balancing sobering realities with wit and optimism—especially in their search for the week's business heroes and villains. The episode exemplifies Business Daily’s knack for bringing complex, interlocking economic stories to life for a wide international audience.

Transcript

[Will Bay]

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[Will Bay]

Hello, I'm Will Bay and welcome to Business Daily. And this week we're taking stock on a week. Or maybe we should say reflecting. Oh, no, shh. Don't say reflecting. It's green.

[Rahul (Business Daily Contributor)]

I think it's dirty green with algae floating on top. Right now it's like a murky, greenish, light blue color, but it's beautiful. I love it. I love it. I think it's a disgrace. I think it's fantastic. On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it an eight and a half.

[Will Bay]

Pool problems at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington, D.C. carson. It's a scourge of weekend gardeners everywhere with their ponds. Right? Algae in the sun.

[Carsten Bresky]

I saw a picture on social media. You know, we had a banner somewhere over a U. S. Highway saying that we can't even win against algae. So it's indeed a nice theme.

[Will Bay]

No I ever seen these kind of algae problems before, or the paint job too, which seems to be another issue there in D.C. yeah, that's a very,

[Na Pham]

very famous, very common problem actually in Hanoi because we have two big lakes in Hanoi. It turns so green every summer. Yeah. And when I was growing up, they used to send lots of just to jump in the legs to clean them. I think they have more sophisticated methods using chemicals and stuff.

[Will Bay]

Well, maybe that's the answer for Mr. Trump and the team at the White House to get it clean this time around. That's the voice of Na Pham journalist in Hanoi, Vietnam, as she mentions joining us today alongside Carsten Brezki from the multinational Bank Ing joining us from Frankfurt in Germany. Let's get into the week then. And it feels like one story has kind of been the talk of it, hasn't it in many parts of the world.

[Rahul (Business Daily Contributor)]

Oh, it's awful.

[Carsten Bresky]

It is absolutely awful.

[Rahul (Business Daily Contributor)]

Unbearable.

[Will Bay]

You cannot breathe, you've got the head turning, you sweat all the time.

[Carsten Bresky]

I think we're going to shut early tomorrow. If it gets too hot, we might shut actually because, you know, sometimes you just can't take it, you know, it's too hot.

[Will Bay]

The heat. Carsten, We've had record temperatures here in Europe. Now I know you've had them in Asia as well. It's not just a weather thing. Carson. I'm looking at Le Mans, the French newspaper here saying still impacts from previous heat waves 1.5% on sort of productivity because of the hit to lots of people's working conditions. Serious kind of economic impact to this as well as it being perhaps just uncomfortable for people.

[Carsten Bresky]

No, obviously I think, well, maybe the 1.5% is more for the French people. Just kidding. No, it's obvious productivity will go down in all of Europe. Clearly though it might bring people back to the office as they're sweating at home without air conditioning. I think that's one thing. But also remember, Will, that in the past we even saw if this lasts far too long, we saw that the highways were literally melting away so that the infrastructure will also suffer again, whether it's railways which can't stand the heat, highways, bridges. And then the final thing is, and I saw this this morning because you might remember I'm a passionate rower and I'm rowing in Frankfurt on the mine which is also transportation waterways and there hardly are any vessels anymore. And that has nothing to do with the Strait of Hormuz. That has to do with the very low water levels. So we're now also seeing that there will be again supply chain disruptions as the vessels they no longer pass the mine in the Rhine River.

[Will Bay]

Now is it a similar picture in Vietnam?

[Na Pham]

In Vietnam we're kind of used to the heat. But you're right, it's very excessive heat at the moment. It feels like 46 degrees today. The main thing for us now is power cuts because electricity consumption jumps something like 15% and is overwhelmed.

[Will Bay]

So that's people putting their AC on and things like that.

[Na Pham]

That's right. You know, if I remember right, the late Lee Kuan Yeo said that the air con is the greatest invention of all time. But aircons can cope with this heat, so we suffer from it. And hospitals actually getting really, really crowded with sick people. So I think it is a major impact on the society and economy.

[Will Bay]

And we've seen this Carson too, haven't we, in Europe, France again, somewhere where they've had rolling kind of power cuts in the west of the country too, that those infrastructure systems, not just the sort of physical transport ones you were talking about, but also, you know, power. So key to how all of the modern economy works now and getting enough of it also having an impact.

[Carsten Bresky]

Definitely. And the French are to some extent lucky because they do have nuclear energy. But indeed now we will, like Nam said, we will see more and people also getting an ac, which also means more sucking off energy over the summer. And the final thing, and that's also you mentioned France, is that a couple of years ago we also saw more elderly people actually passing away due to these heat waves. There is also then really more loss. So not only economic damage, but there will also be human loss due to the heat wave. So all these things will clearly leave their marks. We're only at the end of June. This could last a couple of more weeks.

[Na Pham]

No, I think it's going to last until at least September. And with El Nino and all that, you know, Vietnam obviously doesn't produce petrol for electricity, so we have to buy it from outside. And with this we kind of going to pay a lot more for our power. And that will probably hit people's pockets as well. Alongside business aspect of that.

[Will Bay]

Yeah, we're really interested what you're seeing, where you are around the world and how are you coping if you run your own business. Let us know business dailybc.co.uk is our email address. Would love to hear from you on that. Carsten, let's move away from the heat and look at some domestic matters in Germany. But interesting because it's a challenge that I think pretty much every modern economy in the world has right now. What to do with aging populations and how to fund the pensions that they need in those ever longer retirements.

[Carsten Bresky]

Well, the government under Chancellor Merz has had a hard time since he came into office. A lot of criticism, not really getting things moving besides big fiscal stimulus. So the entire country has been waiting for reform and this week we got a big announcement of a nice pension reform. Why am I saying nice? It really looks good on paper. Meaning the retirement age will be linked to life expectancy. So gradually moving up and I think by 2080 we would then have a retirement age of 70. There will also be a kind of top on of the pay as you go system, but now by a capital markets funded additional pension scheme that will also be gradually built up. The option for people to go into early retirement will also be cancelled. So no longer getting a pension with 60 or 63. There will also be an attempt to broaden the base of potential contributors by hoping to include at least politicians and also freelancers into the pension system. So all of these things together really mean that this government has now come up with a proposal that would make the pension system financially more sustainable. We're not there yet. It now has to go through parliament, but the hope is that it will be embraced by parliament because the government also knows if they don't manage to get this one through, then they're more or less doomed to fail and they can actually close the shop. But it is a nice achievement. And for a change, some positive political news out of Germany.

[Na Pham]

It's actually quite interesting, isn't it? Because Asian countries actually have been dealing with aging society problem for so many years. But what I see here is that we actually, in Vietnam, for example, we are going to lower the pension age. I mean the age that you can actually receive. The government's subsidized on your. Yeah, from 75 to 70. So I wonder why it happens that way. I mean, we do actually send lots of young laborers to say, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and other countries. So maybe that helps because Vietnam's population is relatively young.

[Carsten Bresky]

Yeah, but I think that also shows that, you know, the, the country and the Vietnam has become more prosperous in the economy. Because you said 75. So 75 to 70, that is going

[Will Bay]

back to France again. Carsten, we've seen plenty of people protesting about 70, 60.

[Carsten Bresky]

Exactly. So therefore, I think to me this is rather a sign that you guys actually think that you can afford it and that there is enough prosperity to actually pay for it. So that, you know, to me is a good sign. I think in Europe, on average we are somewhere 63 to 65. And we have also, as demographic change is hitting the entire continent, something needs to change and one screw to return is clearly the retirement age. Which makes sense also because when these public pension schemes were invented in the late 19th century, people hardly ever made it to the retirement age. And now we have more or less, on average 20, 20 good years after we entered retirement. So of course there is a financing problem.

[Na Pham]

Now 70 is the new 50.

[Will Bay]

Now I'm not sure I want to be doing this job there, but don't tell my bosses that I'm with the French on an early retirement now, part of Vietnam's kind of prosperity picture has of course been riding that kind of boom of your neighbor China, but also the volatility that potentially brings along with it. And that has been manifesting itself. You were around agriculture recently. Just tell us a bit about that.

[Na Pham]

Yeah, so we're talking about the war of fruit, namely the war of durians and custard, apples and other delicious fruits that Vietnam exports to China. So basically 90% of Vietnamese durians being sold to China. So talking about putting all the eggs in one basket. And if China suddenly decides to stop importing Vietnamese durians, I don't know what will happen. We will all have to go eat durian and dream.

[Will Bay]

Durian is durian good. I'm just looking at a picture of one here. It looks a bit like a jack, really. Is that right?

[Na Pham]

Yeah, it's spiky and very pungent, so.

[Carsten Bresky]

And it has a very strange smell, doesn't it? From what I remember, it smells strange, at least for Europeans, Will.

[Na Pham]

Yeah, yeah. But now actually it also happens with Taiwan because Taiwan, the government there has warned farmers about selling custard apples to China as well. So in 2021, when I was there, China also stopped importing Taiwanese pineapples. You couldn't imagine what Taiwanese people had to do with their pineapples. They invented like dozens of dishes made of pineapples. Everyone's addicted to pineapple. And I got sick eating so much pineapple cakes and things. So the government actually is saying to the farmers that don't actually increase your export to China because you don't know what they're going to do. If they not happy with us, they're going to stop buying from us and we will be basically in big trouble.

[Will Bay]

Or worse, you'll have durian on a pizza alongside that pineapple as well.

[Carsten Bresky]

Don't tell this an Italian.

[Will Bay]

I apologize in advance to our Italian listeners. You're listening to Taking Stock on Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

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[Will Bay]

And today we're in the company of Na Pham, journalist in Hanoi, Vietnam alongside Carsten Bresky from the multinational bank Ing. Karsten's joining us from Frankfurt. Right, it's that time of the week where we get our guests to give us some of their heroes and villains of the business week. I'm going to save one of the villains because it's something we've talked a little bit about already. But nah, give us an upbeat one. First of all, a hero because coffee is your choice.

[Na Pham]

Yes, coffee is my choice. And on Friday there'll be a big coffee festival in Singapore and there will be a woman that has been spearheading efforts to promote Vietnamese coffee overseas and she's my hero for today's program. Her name is Le Wang Zip Tao and she's the CEO of King Coffee. I wonder whether you guys have heard about the brand.

[Will Bay]

I've not, no.

[Na Pham]

King Coffee is basically a very big manufacturer of coffee and coffee products and they are actually selling coffees to 150 destinations in the world. Well, hopefully you'll be able to buy it in the UK soon. But mostly instant coffee because Vietnam is the biggest robusta coffee producer in the world. So that is actually mostly used for instant coffee. And Thao, the woman, she's been trying to find ways to promote other products as well. So to make sure that people understand, appreciate and buy more Vietnamese coffee under her leadership they have just set up a so called world coffee alliance with 21 countries joining in and hopefully they will be able to support each other to make coffees better and sell more coffees to other countries.

[Will Bay]

Carsten, really interesting because I'm sure me and you both very early rises as we were joking about what we could book what we got going earlier, the obscure World cup games we've caught at crazy o' clock in the morning European time. I do need coffee, but I was going to say Vietnamese wouldn't be, you know, Ethiopian, Kenyan, some of the south and Central American brands. I can think of as sort of coffee producers. Vietnamese, not one that leapt to my.

[Carsten Bresky]

I would definitely check it out because I am indeed a full coffee addict. I wrote it down already. Nan so I might be another buyer of this fantastic coffee. So I definitely need to check it out.

[Will Bay]

One place you won't want that coffee, Carsten, is out and about on the railways. Slightly beleaguered, I think we can use that word, can't we? For Germany's national rail system, Deutsche Bahn. It was in the headlines during another football tournament, actually, wasn't it? During the Euros a couple of years ago, it would been a big priority for the Merz government to turn around. Back in the news though, or certainly back on your Twitter feed this week.

[Carsten Bresky]

And I was even lucky. Indeed it is my villain of the week because you saw I was actually part of it. I think that was Tuesday evening. I was just traveling from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf, which should take not more than 70 minutes. It took me two and a half hours. And even better, I had a sauna for free because there was no air conditioning functioning on the train. And as a good bank economist, I was there dressed as a good anchor, wearing my suit and really sweating like hell. Unbelievable. But, well, I was even lucky because all Deutsche Bahn passengers the day after. So on Wednesday, the entire system collapsed for 90 minutes in the evening.

[Will Bay]

Was that due to the heat?

[Carsten Bresky]

No, no, that was not due to the heat. That was due to some kind of a disturbance in the communication system at Deutsche Bahn. And to make things even worse, so somehow people, Deutsche Bahn is the triple villain of the week. So that was 90. So the third thing is I was just checking it online. So Deutsche bank now is actually calling upon its passengers not to use Deutsche Bahn this weekend due to the heat wave because they are afraid that there will be again new disturbances on the German railway system, probably then also with not functioning ac. So they advise people not to use their trains this week.

[Will Bay]

In their defence, we have private railway companies here in the uk, they've got the same warning at the moment as well. Now you can us Northern Europeans, we're already struggling with this.

[Carsten Bresky]

Now we'll be laughing about disconcerting news

[Na Pham]

actually, because in Hanoi they are considering to build the first speed rail and they're pitching for contractors from other countries. So I mean, listening to you guys, I think they should probably stop it before heat waves come and destroy it.

[Will Bay]

Yeah, we might not be the best advocates for the European bids in that I'm sure something we will cycle back to in the future. Something that's been an ongoing theme over the last few weeks is not on the program. When Rahul has been chatting with our panelists about this has been what's been going on in the world of technology stocks has been a particularly Volatile week. This week though, across global markets.

[Rahul (Business Daily Contributor)]

We have liftoff for the Space X ipo. History being made on Wall street to crowd at the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. SpaceX launched onto Wall street today with the largest initial public offering in history. The space and AI firm has officially made history on its $75 billion IPO, debuting with a market value of $1.7 trillion ahead of its first day of Space X. Not giving the bulls much to cheer about. Off 10% today, down three days straight, it had a high of 225 last week and is back to 165.

[Will Bay]

The stock has already fallen as much as 30% in just a few days. It also shed $400 billion in market cap in a single day, which was the second largest one day wipeout in stock market.

[Rahul (Business Daily Contributor)]

We held our horses on the SpaceX IPO and their stock price and all that. But after four straight days of losses, it's time to check in a little bit and see how the reality.

[Will Bay]

So There you go. SpaceX, it went to the moon, as the people on social media sites like to say about stocks when they take off. And then Carsten has rejoined us back on Earth, perhaps on our very hot railways again. What's your take about what's kind of gone on this week from a markets perspective? Full stop.

[Carsten Bresky]

Yeah, it's tricky. Well, so there's one tactical explanation for the SpaceX story and that is that we also had the announcement so after the IPO going to the stock market, there was now this week the announcement that SpaceX would also issue bonds in order to get more money in. And this is clearly watering down the value of the stocks they just issued a week ago. So that is one reason. That's a very specific SpaceX reason. But the other one is we also had for example South Korean semiconductor producers losing a lot this week. So there is nervousness, there is high volatility and especially now when it comes to tech AI, there is enormous nervousness. I also don't hold this crystal ball to tell you how this will evolve. I'm not allowed even to give you any investment advice, but it is obvious. And when, when you see a market with so much fluctuation, so much volatility, nervousness is there. We know that there will be more investments needed to implement AI. And I personally think that AI will be the technology that will continue to disrupt the real economy. So the theme will be there.

[Na Pham]

There's somewhat a different picture in this end of the world though, because I mean I Could see that the tsmc, the famous chips company in Taiwan, their shares actually rose quite a lot. So I think, you know, that actually depends on the market. I think I'm not talking about Vietnam's market because Vietnamese stock exchange is somewhat isolated and not really connected somehow to the world. So it stays unaffected. But I think we should say now

[Will Bay]

you spend a lot of your time when you're not in Hanoi working in Taiwan as well, don't you? And it's kind of been a good case study for riding this kind of volatility. So is it, I hear what you're saying about TSMC's shares right now, but is that a worry for the Taiwanese government? Full stop? Just the fact that it's been up and down so much and we saw Micron on the day we're talking as well. US chip maker rallying massively too. It's the swings rather than the downward trend. Right. That feels like the complicated bit.

[Na Pham]

Yeah, I think they actually are enjoying it a bit actually because I mean TFP and C is so brilliant. I mean they said last week someone from the government said that nothing can be compared to tfnc. So yeah, they happy about that. And the Taiwan benchmark just went down a little bit but then rose up again. So I don't think that sentiment actually is reflected very widely in Taiwan.

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Really.

[Will Bay]

Interesting. Well that is clearly going to be something that's going to be continued to talk about across our programs, Business Daily and World Business Report here on the World Service in the coming week. What else do we think, guys? I'm very interested looking across now that the price of oil. Our editor Justin was flagging this up this morning back now below where it was before US and Israel's war in Iran. What does that tell us, Carsten? Do you think it pressure easing or is it still in wait and see mode?

[Carsten Bresky]

Yeah, that's very interesting. Well, to some extent it should help Vietnam at least with these energy prices now to get all these.

[Na Pham]

Definitely. I think it's great news. Great news.

[Carsten Bresky]

Exactly.

[Na Pham]

We can afford more air conditioning power.

[Carsten Bresky]

Exactly.

[Na Pham]

I can think of at the moment.

[Carsten Bresky]

There are clear benefits to it, I must say. Well, I'm still a bit skeptical but maybe this is the the German in me. But I also checked with our oil commodity or oil expert at ing and for us this is still too good to be true because think about it, there are still the mine in the Strait of Hormuz and we're still talking about insurers trying to find new premium. You know how costly will it be to get the vessels through the strait. We're still far from certain that we will get a successful deal between the US and Iran. So to us, I think the market has, you know, got carried away a little too much. It means, I think we still expect prices to go up a little bit from the current levels towards year end. If we're wrong, we will all applaud because lower energy prices are not only good for Vietnam, if this continues and if the energy prices stay where they are and even go, go lower. Well, fantastic stuff. You know, you can fill up your car again a bit cheaper than before. The European industry will also applaud. So obviously if this comes earlier and faster than we expected, it's a nice tailwind.

[Will Bay]

Yeah. And still things to build back as well. Literally as we've been speaking. A note on our internal system here in the UK from my colleague Kevin Peachey, who's one of our domestic business correspondents. The amount of money owed by UK consumers to energy suppliers has risen to a new record high of £4.79 billion. So well over $5 billion. So you can see that even if the deal holds, as Carsten says, still lots of challenges for households right around the world, aren't there?

[Na Pham]

How can you owe companies? I mean.

[Will Bay]

Oh yeah, because people, they do it on these sort of tariffs. So you have a set amount that you pay for a period of time and then they readjust it if you're using more or using less or the price goes up and down in there as well. So it's sort of like these because

[Na Pham]

in Vietnam if you don't pay your bill, they'll just come to your doors

[Will Bay]

and take money off.

[Na Pham]

You will just cut it.

[Will Bay]

Yeah, not quite as blunt here, but still still a big issue by the look of things as well. Just about it for us guys. Thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Na Pham in Hanoi, Vietnam and Carsten Bresky from ING in Frankfurt. And remember to never miss an episode. Do subscribe to Business Daily wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, we are trying a few new things on the feed as you may well have noticed. So we would really appreciate a review or a 5 star one would be brilliant. And if you have time to write us a little review about what you liked, that would be fantastic too. Does help more people to find the podcast, but thanks so much for listening.

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