Vocabulary

Fiscal issues вопросы бюджетно-налоговой политики

Customs policy таможенная политика

Public expenditure management system система управления государственными расходами

Disposable income располагаемый доход

Targeted protection адресная защита

Relevance уместность

Impoverished обнищавший

Populist policy популистская политика

To defy выступать (против)

To envisage предусматривать

To a large extent в значительной степени

Enormous громадный

To take pride (in) гордиться (чем-либо)

I hope, I’ve made myself clear Надеюсь, я ясно все объяснил

FAD(fiscal affairs department) департамент бюджетно-налоговой политики

Exercise 12. Answer the following questions:

1. What is a vital element of the IMF’s macroeconomic policy advice to member countries?

2. Has IMF done anything to improve public expenditure management systems?

3. What were the changes in the transition economies accompanied by?

4. Why did disposable incomes on the whole fall sharply?

5. Why was it necessary to help these countries reform policies?

6. What does the IMF’s interest in poverty and social problems have much to do with?

7. What future directions and roles does the IMF envisage for FAD?

Exercise 13. Find the Russian equivalents for the following:

1. fiscal discipline

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2. vital element of the policy

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3. to be involved with technical assistance

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4. to set up tax administrations

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5. to improve public expenditure management systems

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6. to gain control over the expenditure

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7. disposable incomes

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8. to undertake a major reform

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9. to expand economic activity and income

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10. a demand-driven department

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11. fiscal observatory

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12. to anticipate fiscal problems

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13. to provide intellectual leadership

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14. to make oneself clear

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Exercise 14. Find the synonyms for the words in italics.

1. Fiscal discipline is a vital element of the IMF’s macroeconomic policy.

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2. We have been largely involved with technical assistance…

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3. Recently, the role of technical assistance has broadened.

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4. Your role in trying to make tax system more efficient and equitable is well known.

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5. Besides, we have done a lot to improve public expenditure management systems…

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6. Work on social safety nets has also become an important activity of our department.

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7. Your department has become involved in several new areas…

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8. What is the nature of the work in these areas?

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9. Our interest in poverty and social problems has much to do with strengthening the political sustainability of reforms.

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10. We pay attention to poverty to help sustain reform and achieve macroeconomic stability and thereby to expand economic activity and income.

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Exercise 15. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. Fiscal discipline is a vital element of the IMF’s macroeconomic policy advice to member countries.

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2. Since the early 60s when the department was created, we have been largely involved with technical assistance, with helping countries in Africa and elsewhere create fiscal institutions.

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3. With regard to economies in transition we had to help to create institutions as well as to reform policies.

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4. We have been much involved in setting up tax administrations, treasures, budget offices, as well as creating and reforming customs policies.

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5. Work on social safety nets has also become an important activity of our department.

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6. The other reason why we became more active in the safety net area was to provide some sort of targeted protection for particularly vulnerable population groups in countries engaged in major macroeconomic adjustment efforts that were accompanied by large withdrawals of subsidies.

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7. When a country undertakes a major reform, the distribution of income often deteriorates in the short run.

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8. We pay attention to poverty to help sustain reform and achieve macroeconomic stability and thereby to expand economic activity and income.

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9. FAD has been a demand-driven department to a large extent.

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10. We try to anticipate fiscal problems and provide intellectual leadership for their solution.

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Exercise 16. Read the article below quickly to pick out the main economic indicators. Then study the vocabulary given after it.

Some facts About the SDR

The Special Drawing Right (SDR) is an international reserve asset created by the IMF in October 1969. SDRs first came into operation in 1970 as a sort of reserve currency to supplement national currencies and gold as the medium in which countries hold their reserves. It is a new type of money known as “paper gold” and used as the first international legal tender. The SDR serves as a unit of account for the IMF and a number of other international and regional organizations. It is also used in transactions between governments and central banks. However, the market for SDRs limited because they are not held by individuals or private businesses. In addition, a few countries peg the exchange rates of their currencies to the SDR.

The SDR was initially valued by the IMF in terms of a fixed quantity of gold and was redefined in June 1974 as a basket of 16 currencies. The SDR has changes over time. For many years it was an oddity fully understood only by a few central bankers. In 1981, however, in an attempt to extend its usage beyond the IMF and its accounts (which are denominated in SDRs), it was simplified. It is now based on a weighted average of only five different currencies: the dollar, the Deutschmark, the French franc, the pound sterling and the yen. The basket is revised every five years. The weights in the basket reflect the relative shares of countries in exports of goods and services and the relative shares of the five currencies in official reserve holdings.

Since the adoption of the First Amendment of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement in 1969, the IMF has been authorized to allocate SDRs to member countries. Decisions to allocate (or cancel) SDRs require an 85 per cent majority vote of the Board of Governors and are made for “basic periods”, which, unless otherwise decided, run for five consecutive years. Cumulative allocations to date total SDR 21.4 billion. SDR allocations are distributed in proportion to IMF members’ quota shares. Because of considerable expansion in the IMF’s membership since SDRs were last allocated in 1981, 38 of the IMF’s 181 member countries have never received SDR allocations. Another 37 members have participated in some, but not all allocations.

SDRs are counted as a part of a country’s international reserves, along with official holdings of gold, foreign exchange, and reserve position in the IMF. The share of SDRs in global holdings of nongold reserves has declined from 8.4 per cent at the end of 1972, to 6.5 per cent at the end of 1981, and to 2.3 per cent at the end of 1995.