首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Anyone believing the global economic crisis to be over should have taken a look around Europe this week. Desperate to revive his
Anyone believing the global economic crisis to be over should have taken a look around Europe this week. Desperate to revive his
admin
2020-05-01
68
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 Papaconstantinou, 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.
What can be inferred from the passage about the E.U.?
选项
A、It can do nothing to stop the dangerous situation in euro zone.
B、It has played a limited role in economic matters in euro zone.
C、It has played an important role in economic matters in euro zone.
D、It has played an important role in keeping its members out of financial crisis.
答案
B
解析
由最后一段可知,欧盟的作用是有限的。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/pMbK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TeachingMethodsforEffectiveCommunicationI.Writeimportantpointson【T1】______【T1】______—theorganizationofideas—tec
A、Theyusuallystayonlinelongerthanintended.B、Theymightlosetheirjobsasaresult.C、Theymighthaveproblemswiththeir
ThePurposesofLiteraryAnalysisI.IntroductionLiteraryanalysisisinitselfauniversalnecessity.—reason1:enablesrea
TheSurvivalofEnglishI.410CEtothemid-eighthcentury—KingVortigerninvited【T1】______mercenariesfordefence【T1】_____
A、Sheisworkingincollege.B、Herstudyshowsworkoutisgoodforourbrains.C、Sheisabout45-50yearsold.D、Herresearchsu
A、Thefutureofagenerationofyoungpeople.B、Thegapbetweentherichandthepoor.C、Aseriesofsocialproblemsduetounem
DifferentTypesofLearningI.ThedefinitionoflearningA.AprocessofpeopleexperiencingrelationshipbetweeneventsB.【T1】
A、Doingsomethingworthwhileandrewarding.B、Scaringthepeoplewalkinginthestreet.C、Attractingpeople’sattention.D、Criti
A、Thehousingsector.B、Thetourismsector.C、Themanufacturingsector.D、Theservicesector.D在回答男士关于今年职场前景如何这一问题时,女士说由于房地产等产业的
随机试题
A.肾小管性蛋白尿B.肾小球性蛋白尿C.混合性蛋白尿D.溢出性蛋白尿E.生理性蛋白尿近曲小管上皮细胞受损引起的蛋白尿为
A.高柱状腺上皮B.鳞状上皮化生C.复层鳞状上皮D.生发上皮E.有纤毛的高柱状上皮子宫颈黏膜是
A.上消化道钡餐造影B.小肠导管造影C.钡剂灌肠D.腹部透视E.断层摄影结肠癌应做的检查是
期货交易所是专门进行标准化期货合约买卖的场所,按照其章程的规定实行自律管理,不用承担民事责任。()
个人贷款与公司贷款相区别的重要特征是()。
有人说生活的理想就是为了理想的生活,你怎么看?(3分钟演讲时间。10分钟准备时间)
阅读程序:PrivateSubForm_Click()a=0Forj=1To15a=a+jMod3NextjPrintaEndSub程序运行后,单击窗体,输
张老师需要对一篇Word格式的科普文章进行排版,按照如下要求,帮助她完成相关工作。将文档中8个字体颜色为蓝色的段落设置为“标题1”样式,3个字体颜色为绿色的段落设置为“标题2”样式,并按照下表要求修改“标题1”和“标题2”样式的格式。
Hehadtoconsidertheoffer.Anyway,hehadtorearhiswholefamily.
徐霞客一生周游考察了16个省,足迹几乎遍及全国。他在考察的过程中,从来不盲目迷信书本上的结论。他发现前人研究地理的记载有许多不是很可靠的地方。为了进行真实细致的考察,他很少乘车坐船,几乎全靠双脚翻山越岭,长途跋涉;为了弄清大自然的真相,他总是挑选道路艰险的
最新回复
(
0
)