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| Business Words in the News
Friday 13 September 2002
Vocabulary from the business news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Euro Price Inflation
Summary: The president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, has commented on public anger, which has blamed the introduction of the Euro for price rises in the European Union. PATRICK BARTLETT reports.
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| | The News | |
| | | In unusually forceful comments on the subject, Mr Duisenberg said he was concerned about the mismatch between the perception of rapidly rising prices and the reality of stable eurozone inflation. The ECB president said that public anger was directed not at the euro, but at service-sector businesses, such as restaurants, hotels and hairdressers, some of whom, he said, may have hiked prices dramatically. While conceding that public resentment might even be growing in some countries, Mr Duisenberg insisted the inflationary impact at the euro launch was now over:
"If you think about goods which you don't buy that often, like a new computer, they all have fallen in price. But that is not so much noticed than the daily beer or coffee."
The ECB calculates the euro launch has only added one fifth of one percent to the general inflation rate, which is based on a wide basket of goods and services. However, Mr Duisenberg said it was understandable if people continued to blame normal price rises on the euro. But it was crucial, he added, that the perception of a rising cost of living did not become entrenched in the public mind, as that could lead to unjustified wage demands and thus stoke inflation.
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| | The Words
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| | | mismatch
if there is a mismatch between two things, there is not a connection between them or they are different in some way
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| | | service-sector businesses
businesses and companies that provide services, rather than make things e.g. shops, restaurants, banks etc
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| | | hiked prices
if you hike prices, you increase them
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| | | resentment
anger or bitterness you feel about a situation or a person
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| | | launch
to make something available to the public
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| | | basket of goods and services
a group or collection of things we buy
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| | | crucial
very important
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| | | entrenched
If an idea or opinion is entrenched then it is believed very strongly and it is difficult to change it
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| | | wage demands
requests for more money from employees
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| | | stoke inflation
cause prices to rise
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