IN THE NEWS - Latin American Economic Crisis

By Cynthia Kirk
IN THE NEWS -August 10, 2002: Latin American Economic Crisis

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS.

The International Monetary¹ Fund has agreed to provide an additional thirty-thousand-million dollars in loans to
Brazil. I-M-F Managing Director Horst Koehler announced the agreement Wednesday. Experts say the loan is
designed to ease growing concerns about Brazil’s financial markets.

The thirty-thousand-million dollar loan is the largest ever given by the I-M-F.
Financial experts say it shows the I-M-F’s strong support for the economic program
that Brazil is following. Brazil already received a fifteen-thousand-million dollar
loan from the I-M-F last year.

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America. But investors² and bankers are
concerned about Brazil ’s huge public debt. It is more than two-hundred-fiftythousand-
million dollars. There also is concern about Brazil’s presidential election
in October. The two main candidates have sharply criticized the current
government ’s support of I-M-F policies aimed at cutting spending, reducing
inflation and increasing free trade.

These concerns have weakened financial markets and caused a sharp drop in the value of Brazilian money in
recent weeks. The government has been forced to pay interest rates of more than thirty-percent on what it
borrows. Many fear that Brazil may not be able to pay its huge debt.

The I-M-F loan agreement requires that Brazil keep its budget at three-point-seventy-five percent of its total
economic production. And it must reduce inflation during the next year and a half.

American Treasury³ Secretary Paul O’Neill visited Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina this week. Uruguay received
an emergency loan from the United States Monday of one-and-one-half-thousand-million dollars. The loan was
made to help Uruguay re -open its banks. They had been closed to keep people from withdrawing too much
money. On Thursday, the I-M-F agreed to extend its line of credit to Uruguay so it could borrow more money.

Argentina, however, did not receive help this week. The American treasury secretary said the Argentine
government must complete more economic reforms and improve its banking⁴ system before it can receive aid.
Argentina has one-hundred-forty-thousand-million dollars in government debt. And it owes large repayments⁵ on
past loans from the I-M-F and other international lenders.

About twenty-two percent of workers are unemployed⁶ in Argentina and more than half the country’s thirty-six
million people are poor. Until recent years, Argentina was South America’s richest nation.

Argentines protested Mister O’Neill ’s visit. They accused the United States and the I-M-F of blocking badly
needed aid. The United States is the largest and most influential⁷ shareholder⁸ in the I-M-F.

Mister O’Neill said he wants to help negotiate an agreement between the I-M-F and Argentina to pull the
country out of a four year recession. .

This VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS, was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Steve Ember.

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1 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

4 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

5 repayments   

偿还，报答，偿付的钱物( repayment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The repayments of the loan are spread over 10 years. 贷款可在十年内分期偿还。
• The repayments of the loan are spread over 25 years. 这笔贷款分摊二十五年偿还。

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

7 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

8 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。