Romania crisis aid

BBC Learning English
Words in the News
27th
March 2009
Romania crisis aid



Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2009
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Romania will receive an aid package worth $27bn from a group of key lenders including the
IMF and the EU. It's the fifth Eastern European country to seek help to deal with the
economic downturn, after Ukraine, Serbia, Latvia and Hungary. Oana Lungescu reports:

After two weeks of intensive talks in Romania, the head of the IMF mission Jeffrey Franks
said there was agreement on an overall aid package worth twenty seven billion dollars, most
of which will come from the IMF and the EU. The aim of the loan is to finance the country's
gaping budget deficit and improve investors' confidence, after a sharp drop in foreign
capital inflows.

In just a few months, Romania's economic fate has turned. From a country which last year
registered the EU's highest growth rate, it's now shedding thousands of jobs, mainly in the car
and steel sectors, and facing the collapse of a property boom.

The bailout may give some temporary relief to the economy, but in an embarrassment to the
centre-left governing coalition which came to power late last year promising to raise wages
and pensions in what remains one of the EU's poorest countries. Some trade unions are
reluctantly backing the deal, but others are threatening strikes if spending cuts are enacted.

Oana Lungescu, BBC News, Brussels


Words in the news © British Broadcasting Corporation 2009
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bbclearningenglish.com

Vocabulary and definitions

gaping budget deficit the very large amount of money by which government
spending is greater than its income
improve investors' confidence make those who hold stocks or shares in companies and
corporations more willing to buy more shares in those or
other companies
a sharp drop a fast and significant reduction
foreign capital inflows money used for producing more wealth or for starting new
businesses that comes from abroad
economic fate has turned here, the state of economy has become much worse
shedding losing, closing
property boom when many new homes are built and their prices rise
because there is a lot of demand
wages a wage is a fixed amount of money that is paid, usually
every week, to an employee (mostly for manual work)
reluctantly backing supporting, although not very willingly
enacted put into practice

More on this story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7962897.stm

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