Questões sobre Interpretação de Texto

Read the text below in order to answer questions 14 to 16.

THE BUDGET FOR THE YEAR 2000

Most analysts believe that the budget for the year 2000 presented by the government is feasible, but many points used to design the budget depend on negotiations with Congress. "If first impressions are confirmed, the budget corresponds to reality", says former Central Bank President Affonso Celso Pastore. According to the Chief Economist for Citibank, the budget is feasible but not easy to accomplish.

Specialists say that the government would have to reduce monthly expenses immediately until the end of the year from R$ 3.5 billion to R$ 2.87 billion, which would correspond to a 20% reduction. "It's quite a tight budget", said former Minister Maílson da Nóbrega. The main problem is that state employees' salaries have been raised and an extra R$ 3.1 billion will have to be paid next year.

In connection to the budget for year 2000, analysts believe that it

• A.

  ought to be designed by the Congress

• B.

  might be achieved

• C.

  is hardly attainable

• D.

  will be increased by 20%

• E.

  has been endorsed by the Congress

Read the text below in order to answer questions 17 and 18.

NEW POLICIES TO FIT THE NEW ECONOMY

Growing Prosperity: The battle for Growth with Equity in the 21^st Century, written by two liberal economists, represents a breakthrough in the political debate over the New Economy. This is the first book that lays out a progressive economic policy designed to encourage technology-driven growth, while ameliorating bad consequences such as widening income disparity and excessive dependence on a volatile stock market.

According to the authors, Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison, Washington policymakers have been excessively fixated on low inflation and a balanced budget. Bluestone and Harrison term this the "Wall Street" model of growth. This model, if carried into the future, will make it difficult to sustain prosperity over the long run. For one thing, the drive to cut the budget deficit has constrained spending on research and development, education, and infrastructure. Over time, they say, this will slow the rate of technological innovation – the equivalent of eating the seed corn.

The authors of the present book emphasize the need to

• A.

  reduce research on technology

• B.

  have stronger trade unions

• C.

  offer higher minimum wages

• D.

  keep continuous technological innovation

• E.

  maintain low consumer spending

Read the text below in order to answer questions 17 and 18.

NEW POLICIES TO FIT THE NEW ECONOMY

Growing Prosperity: The battle for Growth with Equity in the 21^st Century, written by two liberal economists, represents a breakthrough in the political debate over the New Economy. This is the first book that lays out a progressive economic policy designed to encourage technology-driven growth, while ameliorating bad consequences such as widening income disparity and excessive dependence on a volatile stock market.

According to the authors, Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison, Washington policymakers have been excessively fixated on low inflation and a balanced budget. Bluestone and Harrison term this the "Wall Street" model of growth. This model, if carried into the future, will make it difficult to sustain prosperity over the long run. For one thing, the drive to cut the budget deficit has constrained spending on research and development, education, and infrastructure. Over time, they say, this will slow the rate of technological innovation – the equivalent of eating the seed corn.

One aspect which is not approached by Bluestone and Harrison is the

• A.

  volatile stock market

• B.

  income disparity

• C.

  balanced budget

• D.

  spending on research

• E.

  tributary reform

Read the text below in order to answer questions 21 to 23:

THE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR 2000

The proposed budget for 2000 is fully consistent with the four-year plan for 2000-03 ("Avança Brasil"), also submitted to Congress at the end of August 1999. This plan identifies the federal expenditure programmes that are to receive priority in the allocation of budgetary resources over the next four years, reflecting the main governmental objectives in the social, infrastructure and other public expenditure areas. It seeks to exploit regional and cross-projects synergies, and to attract partnerships with the other levels of government, the public enterprises, the multilateral development banks, and the private sector, to promote a more regionally balanced and sustainable development of the country. Increased emphasis will be placed on the evaluation of the results of these programmes, and on the accountability of the public managers of the programmes for these results.

According to the text, the four-year plan for 2000-03 and the proposed budget for 2000

• A. reflect opposing aims
• B. are mutually exclusive
• C. are compatible with each other
• D. predict a loss of revenue
• E. distort the governmental aims

Read the text below in order to answer questions 21 to 23:

THE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR 2000

The proposed budget for 2000 is fully consistent with the four-year plan for 2000-03 ("Avança Brasil"), also submitted to Congress at the end of August 1999. This plan identifies the federal expenditure programmes that are to receive priority in the allocation of budgetary resources over the next four years, reflecting the main governmental objectives in the social, infrastructure and other public expenditure areas. It seeks to exploit regional and cross-projects synergies, and to attract partnerships with the other levels of government, the public enterprises, the multilateral development banks, and the private sector, to promote a more regionally balanced and sustainable development of the country. Increased emphasis will be placed on the evaluation of the results of these programmes, and on the accountability of the public managers of the programmes for these results.

What two aspects are mentioned regarding the four-year plan?

• A. Budgetary cuts and tax measures
• B. Partnerships and fiscal reforms
• C.

  Administrative reform and evaluation of its results

• D. Privatization and structural reforms
• E. Partnerships and evaluation of results

Read the text below in order to answer questions 24 to 26:

ASIAN CRISIS, TAKE TWO?

As global interest rates tighten and current account surpluses begin to vanish, servicing the new mountains of public-sector debt and outstanding private debt will become critical concerns before the end of this year. East Asia's V-shaped recovery is in imminent danger of giving way to the dreaded double dip.

Few analysts now foresee the type of precipitous decline witnessed in 1997-1998. There is talk instead of the Latin-Americanization of the Southeast Asian economies – meaning, in essence, that they are in danger of becoming irrelevant backwaters. But that's the optimistic view.

According to the text, the Asian decline of 1997-1998

• A. may happen again
• B. was predicted by a few analysts
• C. is unlikely to happen again
• D. was caused by Latin American economies
• E. was irrelevant and predictable

Read the text below in order to answer questions 24 to 26:

ASIAN CRISIS, TAKE TWO?

As global interest rates tighten and current account surpluses begin to vanish, servicing the new mountains of public-sector debt and outstanding private debt will become critical concerns before the end of this year. East Asia's V-shaped recovery is in imminent danger of giving way to the dreaded double dip.

Few analysts now foresee the type of precipitous decline witnessed in 1997-1998. There is talk instead of the Latin-Americanization of the Southeast Asian economies – meaning, in essence, that they are in danger of becoming irrelevant backwaters. But that's the optimistic view.

The author refers to the Latin-Americanization of the Southeast Asian economies, which means they

• A. will play an essential role in the global economy
• B. are being led to a new period of prosperity
• C.

  must establish solid financial bonds with South America

• D. will soon recover their high financial rank
• E. may also become isolated from modern economies

Read the text below in order to answer questions 24 to 26:

ASIAN CRISIS, TAKE TWO?

As global interest rates tighten and current account surpluses begin to vanish, servicing the new mountains of public-sector debt and outstanding private debt will become critical concerns before the end of this year. East Asia's V-shaped recovery is in imminent danger of giving way to the dreaded double dip.

Few analysts now foresee the type of precipitous decline witnessed in 1997-1998. There is talk instead of the Latin-Americanization of the Southeast Asian economies – meaning, in essence, that they are in danger of becoming irrelevant backwaters. But that's the optimistic view.

In connection with the present Asian current account surpluses, the text suggests that they

• A.

  are insufficient to service public and private debts

• B. respond to the financial needs of the country
• C. allow optimistic assumptions about the Asian debts
• D.

  reflect the level of stability and prosperity of the country

• E. may sustain prosperity in the long term

Read the text below in order to answer questions 27 to 30:

THE CONFIDENCE QUESTION

What's absent from today's economic discourse is the concept of consumer and investor confidence in a nation's government and economy. This wasn't always the case. As the Cambridge don John Maynard Keynes put it: "The state of confidence, as they term it, is a matter to which practical men pay the closest and most anxious attention". Another Cambridge economist of his era, Frederick Lavington, identified confidence as a key component of the business cycle. His 1922 book The Trade Cycle described the "tendency for confidence to pass into errors of optimism or pessimism", which triggers booms and busts.

To see how misguided economic theories have laid waste to confidence lately, look at Argentina. Consumers, investors and businessmen are gloomy, fed up with the government's policies. Foreign direct investment has fallen 66% in the last year. The economy is flat, rising just 0.9% in this year's first quarter, compared with the first quarter of 1999. There are even dire warnings of debt default.

Argentina suffers from a lack of confidence. The only way to cure it is with a big bang, as Thatcher did in Britain. Cut taxes and government spending to start.

Confidence, according to the author,

• A. encourages both change and growth
• B. produces unemployment and recession
• C. is part of the Argentine posture
• D. makes consumers and investors feel gloomy
• E. is merely a philosophical worry

Read the text below in order to answer questions 27 to 30:

THE CONFIDENCE QUESTION

What's absent from today's economic discourse is the concept of consumer and investor confidence in a nation's government and economy. This wasn't always the case. As the Cambridge don John Maynard Keynes put it: "The state of confidence, as they term it, is a matter to which practical men pay the closest and most anxious attention". Another Cambridge economist of his era, Frederick Lavington, identified confidence as a key component of the business cycle. His 1922 book The Trade Cycle described the "tendency for confidence to pass into errors of optimism or pessimism", which triggers booms and busts.

To see how misguided economic theories have laid waste to confidence lately, look at Argentina. Consumers, investors and businessmen are gloomy, fed up with the government's policies. Foreign direct investment has fallen 66% in the last year. The economy is flat, rising just 0.9% in this year's first quarter, compared with the first quarter of 1999. There are even dire warnings of debt default.

Argentina suffers from a lack of confidence. The only way to cure it is with a big bang, as Thatcher did in Britain. Cut taxes and government spending to start.

Which of the statements below reflects the content of the text?

• A.

  Foreign investments have remained high in Argentina

• B.

  The Argentine financial market has been expanding

• C.

  Argentina's economy would benefit from a dose of confidence

• D.

  The economic discourse in Argentina reflects its optimism

• E.

  Argentina's economic system might soon be dollarized