VOA慢速英语2012 Economics Report - World Bank and Inrternational Monetary Fund Open Spring Meetings in Washington

Economics Report - World Bank and Inrternational Monetary¹ Fund Open Spring Meetings in Washington

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have gathered in Washington. World Bank President Robert Zoelick spoke² to them on Thursday. This is the last time he attends the Spring Meetings of the two organizations as World Bank President. Earlier this week, Jim Yong Kim was officially chosen as the bank’s twelfth President.

Mister Zoellick said developing countries are now engines of growth. “Developing countries have provided two thirds of global growth over the past five years,” he said. But he added that many developing nations still face big problems. He said all members need to work together better “for their common interest.”

The United States traditionally chooses the World Bank head and Europe chooses the IMF chief. But developing nations want more influence.

The World Bank is a development agency. The IMF supports monetary cooperation and provides loans.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde announced Thursday that her group has received promises of over three hundred twenty billion dollars. The money would help nations in trouble. She also said developing nations, what are called the emerging markets, needed to do more. 

CHRISTINE LAGARDE: “If you look at, for instance, the emerging markets. They too have to address some of their issues. They too have to be very attentive³ to a volatile⁴ market situation. And that means, for some of these emerging markets, refocusing on their domestic growth.”

Miz Lagarde said emerging markets need to work toward growth and building demand. But that requires resources.

Two issues are access to banks and safety nets. The World Bank says three fourths of the poor have no access to banks. That means no savings⁵ in their communities to finance growth. The problem is greater for women. Poor women are twenty-eight percent less likely to have bank accounts than poor men.

Social programs are also needed. Sixty percent of the developing world cannot depend on social programs to protect citizens from hunger or provide services in crises. As a result, experts have called for “safety nets.”

ROBERT ZOELLICK: “And for the poorest, let’s focus on basic safety nets for every country to deal with the volatility⁶ and uncertainty⁷ because the other lesson we learned is if you wait until a crisis, its too late.”

And rich nations have a lot to learn from developing ones. Mister Zoellick said programs in Brazil and Mexico are not costly⁸, but help millions.

Finally this week, the World Bank Group welcomed its newest member: South Sudan. The nation received its first grant of nine million dollars. The money is to help create jobs and provide financial services.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm June Simms.

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 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

4 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

5 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

6 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

7 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。