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Business Words in the News
Friday 17 August 2001
Vocabulary from the business news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.

  cavallo
Argentinian loan repayments
Summary: In a statement, Chile's President Ricardo Lagos said the international community must get involved in a solution to Argentina's financial crisis, which is threatening the economy of the entire region. This report from Peter Greste.
   
The News Listen  
  It was in effect a direct appeal to the International Monetary Fund to agree to Buenos Aires' request for between six and nine-billion dollars in aid. That decision is now imminent but if the money doesn't come, Argentina may well be forced to default on its debt repayments and devalue the peso. That would send foreign investors running from across the region - the last thing the fragile Latin American economies need. But they can't bankroll Buenos Aires themselves - the cash simply isn't there in the region that's still struggling to overcome the effects of the last Asian crisis of 1998. And the Peruvian Foreign Minister, Diego Garcia Sayan, admitted that the Rio Group was never designed as an economic life-raft anyway. It was established fifteen years ago to help strengthen democracy on the continent and improve co-operation in areas such as education and technology transfer. Those issues will still be on the table but it's unlikely they'll get much of a hearing this time around.

Peter Greste, BBC, Santiago

 
   
The Words Listen
 
  imminent
certain to happen very soon

 
   
  to default
not do what you have agreed to do; not do something that you are legally supposed to do

 
   
  devalue
reduce the value of a currency in relation to other currencies

 
   
  fragile
easy to break

 
   
  to bankroll
to provide money for something; to fund

 
   
  economic life-raft
financial aid given to help a business or a country when they are in serious trouble

 
   
  transfer
movement from one place to another; exchange

 
   
  on the table
available for consideration and discussion

 
   
 
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