首页
登录
职称英语
Anyone believing the global economic crisis to be over should have taken a l
Anyone believing the global economic crisis to be over should have taken a l
游客
2023-12-15
8
管理
问题
Anyone believing the global economic crisis to be over should have taken a look around Europe this week. Desperate to revive his country’s feeble economy, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan promised $6 billion worth of savings in a budget aimed at taming the country’s stubborn deficit. The plan is his second budget this year, and Ireland’s harshest in decades. In a mini-budget announced a couple of hours earlier, Britain’s Alistair Darling unveiled his government’s latest plan to fix the U.K.’s broken economy, including a punitive tax on bankers’ bonuses, a rise in social security contributions and a cap on public-sector workers’ pay.
In other parts of Europe, things are looking even worse. Shares on the Greek stock market have fallen 9% over the past two days. The parlous state of Greece’s public finances has prompted credit-rating agency Fitch to lower the country’s debt rating to BBB+, the lowest in the euro zone, Europe’s single-currency region. Further blows could follow: rival agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have threatened similar moves in recent days.
Two weeks after Dubai stunned investors by requesting a standstill on $60 billion in liabilities belonging to its main corporate arm, Greece’s downgrade is yet more evidence that the economic crisis is far from over. For countries left to fill gaping holes in their public finances exposed by the meltdown, there’s plenty of pain still to come.
Nowhere more so than Greece. Years of debt-fueled consumption and lax fiscal policies have left the country drowning in red ink. National debt is expected to rise to 125% of GDP in 2010, the highest in the euro zone. "If you want an example of a political elite that thought membership of the euro zone was a panacea," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London, "you don’t need to look further than Greece. They’re in very serious trouble."
Getting out of it won’t be easy. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the euro zone’s 16 countries, urged the country on Monday, Dec. 7, to take "courageous" steps to tackle the crisis. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstanti-nou, part of the socialist government that won power in the country last October, duly pledged to do "whatever is required" to shore up the country’s finances. Key to the recovery plan: slashing Greece’s budget deficit next year from 12.7%—more than four times the level allowed under E.U. rules—to 9.1%.
While that has triggered revenue-raising measures like a crackdown on tax evasion, there’s little sign of the deep spending cuts the country needs to rebalance its books. What’s more, reviving growth will mean shifting from an economy founded on domestic consumption to one driven by exports. "That’s going to be extremely difficult, given that [the Greeks have] allowed their cost competitiveness within the euro zone to erode massively," says Tilford. "We’re still seeing big increases in Greece’s wages."
Contrast that with Ireland. Since losing its edge in Europe—rising labor costs helped the country’s share of euro-zone exports fall one-fifth between 2001 and 2008—the Irish haven’t shied from cutting their cloth in recent months. In his budget announced Dec. 9, for instance, Lenihan unleashed deeply unpopular cuts in public-sector pay that look set to trigger strike action. But when it comes to a spending squeeze of their own, says Tilford, "the Greeks are a long way from recognizing that they really have no choice."
That surely irks the E.U., which is limited in the amount of help—or punishment — it can impose on Greece. Allowing the country to default, or to approach to the International Monetary Fund for emergency funds, would deal a huge blow to the credibility of the 11-year-old euro zone. Whatever financial concessions it can offer, therefore, will almost certainly come with stiff conditions. Greece may have little option but to accept. [br] Which of the following is NOT true about Greece?
选项
A、Its economy is based on exports.
B、It is very likely to be the next Dubai.
C、Its people have realized their situation.
D、Its debt rating is the lowest in the euro zone.
答案
A
解析
此题是事实题。由第六段可知,希腊经济是以国内消费为主,而非依赖出口。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.tihaiku.com/zcyy/3275209.html
相关试题推荐
Havingsaidallofthis,Ishould,perhaps,locatemyself.Iteachandwritea
[originaltext]Host:AtFriday’sannualmeetingoftheAmericanEconomicAssoc
Somepeoplethinkthatthosewhohavereceivedhighereducationshouldbepaid
KimiyukiSudashouldbeaperfectcustomerforJapan’scarmakers.He’sayoung
KimiyukiSudashouldbeaperfectcustomerforJapan’scarmakers.He’sayoung
Patents,saidThomasJefferson,shoulddraw"alinebetweenthethingswhicha
Patents,saidThomasJefferson,shoulddraw"alinebetweenthethingswhicha
Patents,saidThomasJefferson,shoulddraw"alinebetweenthethingswhicha
Youshouldnotfearspidersthankstotheirpoison.Ofallthespidersin【M
Youshouldnotfearspidersthankstotheirpoison.Ofallthespidersin【M
随机试题
[originaltext]M:Haveyoufoundthetroublewiththecar?W:Notyet.Theengin
教师有下列情形之一的,由所在学校、其他教育机构或者教育行政部门给予行政处分或者解
从摄影角度来说,体育摄影是典型的()A.静态摄影 B.固定摄影 C.动体摄
现场两根Q345B钢管手工对接焊。应选择哪种型号的焊条与之相适应( )。A.E
当前素质教育的时代特征是( )。A.培养学生的创新精神 B.了解和研究学
我国只有()证券交易所开办场内认购分级基金份额。A.上海 B.深圳 C
基金业协会是()A.社会团体法人 B.自律管理法人 C.企业法人 D.自
急性肾炎患者几乎均有的临床表现是( )。A.血尿 B.高血压 C.水肿
在道路旅客运输合同中,属于诺成性合同的有()。A.旅游客运合同 B.班车客运合
A.选择偏倚和混杂偏倚 B.信息偏倚和混杂偏倚 C.选择偏倚 D.混杂偏倚
最新回复
(
0
)