The value of goods and services paid for in a country, including income earned in other countries. (Last year’s ____________ was close to $25 billion.)
The amount which a firm, machine or person produces. (The factory has doubled its ___________ in the last six months.)
Industries involved in the production of raw materials. (Coal mining is an important _______________.)
Installing machinery in place of workers. (____________ can be a mixed blessing – machines usually tend to be out of order when you need them most.)
Industries which do not make products but offer a service such as banking, insurance and transport. (_____________ have become more important in the last decade.)
The difference in value between a country’s import and exports. (The government is trying to reduce the ___________ deficit.)
The amount by which expenditure is more than receipts in a firm’s or country’s accounts. (The company announced a two million pound__________ .)
A system where one person or company supplies all of a product in one area without any competition. (The state has a ___________ of the tobacco trade.)
Industries which were once privately owned, but now belong to the state. (Workers in ______________are to get a 3% pay rise.)
Lack of work. (The figures for _____________ are rising.)
The action of imposing taxes. (Money raised by ______________ pays for all government services.)
The most important industries in a country. (Oil is a _____________which is essential to the country’ economy.)
A state in an economy where prices and wages are rising to keep pace with each other. (The government is trying to keep __________below 3%.)
A tax on money earned as wages or salary. (She pays ____________ at the lowest rate.)
A tax imposed as percentage of the invoice value of goods or services. An indirect tax. (________________in Britain currently runs at 17,5%.)
Look at this extract from a business programme and fill in the gaps with one of the words and expressions from Tasks A and B. In some cases, more than one answer may be possible. You may need to change some of the word forms.
1____________________ rates are to rise by a further half a per cent next month, putting further pressure on homeowners paying mortgages. It will also discourage people from 2_________________ money from the high street banks, who are already under a lot of pressure. National Bank was forced to 3__________________ 2,000 members of staff across the country, adding to the country’s rapidly rising rate of 4_________________.
5____________________ rose in the last year by almost 6%, despite the government’s pledge to keep price and wage rises no higher than 3%. This has had a negative impact on 6_______________, since the strong pound coupled with rising prices has made it almost impossible for foreign companies to buy British goods and services. Especially affected are the 7_________________ producing pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
8_____________________ workers in 9_________________ industries across the country are demanding higher 10___________________. Unions and workers are negotiating with 11_____________________ chiefs for an eight per cent rise. This follows the announcement that the government want more investors to put their money into the 12______________ sector.
13____________________ for home computers has finally overtaken the 14__________________, making it once again a seller’s market. There is now a two-week waiting list to receive a new computer. This has pushed prices up by almost a third.
Bradford Aerospace Technologies, where overall 15____________________ for sales of aircraft parts has dropped by almost 10% in the last quarter, will shortly become a 16_________________ industry in a final desperate attempt to keep it open. The government has promised it will keep on the current workforce.
Bad news too for Ranger Cars, who this week announced a 17_____________of almost five million pounds. A spokesman for the company blamed high labour costs and the reluctance by union leaders to approve increased 18_____________ at the firm’s factories. They insist that the installation of new machinery will lead to redundancies.