Global Debt Reading Test 4

Task 1: Introduction

Do some research and take some notes on the following questions:

What do you know about global debt?
How would you define ‘global debt?
Which countries have the worst public debt and why?
What are the possible solutions for countries to deal with their public debt?

Task 2: Reading text

Read the text and check any unknown vocabulary

Global Debt Reading Test Text

Global Debt Reading Test Text Download

Task 3: Comprehension Questions

Now see if you can answer these comprehension questions.

. Headings: Choose a subheading for each paragraph. One title is not needed.

1	F (example)	A	Past trends
2		B	What citizens think about global debt
3		C	An assessment of global debt
4		D	A bleak future
5		E	Calculating global debt
		F	~~Defining global debt~~

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2. What is the issue? Write your answer in no more than seven words.

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3. True / False / Not Given: One question per paragraph.

		T / F / NG
Paragraph 1
i.	Globally, we owe more than three times the value of all sales of goods and services.
Paragraph 2
ii.	According to Corporate Finance Institute (2022), China’s debt is of great concern.
Paragraph 3
iii.	Emerging economies will struggle with the repayments of their debts.
Paragraph 4
iv.	The World Bank Group would prefer to eliminate all developing countries’ debt.
Paragraph 5
v.	The impact of the debt crisis could continue for a very long time.

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4. Open Answer Questions: One question per paragraph.

Paragraph 1
i.	What are finance experts and economists across the globe asking policymakers to do?

Paragraph 2
ii.	Which country has the second highest debt in the world?

Paragraph 3
iii.	What TWO things do advanced economies have to help them in a debt crisis?
	1.		2.
Paragraph 4
iv.	How is this debt crisis different from the last three ‘waves’ of debt?

Paragraph 5
v.	What is the evidence of the likelihood of another economic recession?
	1.	2.		3.

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5. Reference Words: What do these reference words connect to (underlined in the text).

Paragraph	Word	Connection
1	Which	$300tn (example)
1	It
2	It
2	Its
3	Who
3	These
4	Which
4	They
5	It

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6. Vocabulary: Search for the word (s) in the paragraph that mean(s):

Paragraph	Explanation	Word (s)
1	To do or be better than.	Surpassed (example)
1	Roughly calculated.
1	Starting to exist.
2	A way of judging something.
2	A country with a lot of industrial activity.
3	Similar in size, amount or quality to something else.
3	A quality or characteristic that someone or something has.
4	Refers to an unpleasant event that is going to happen soon.
4	A slowdown in economic activity over a period of time.
5	This is the beginning of a recession.
5	The use of government spending and tax policies to influence economic conditions.

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Overall Total: ____ / 36

Global Debt Reading Test Comp Questions Download

1. Headings: Choose a subheading for each paragraph. One title is not needed.

1	F (example)	A	Past trends
2	E	B	What citizens think about global debt
3	C	C	An assessment of global debt
4	A	D	A bleak future
5	D	E	Calculating global debt
B – Not used		F	~~Defining global debt~~

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2. What is the issue? Write your answer in no more than seven words.

The world is in so much debt.

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3. True / False / Not Given: One question per paragraph.

		T / F / NG
Paragraph 1
i.	Globally, we owe more than three times the value of all sales of goods and services. (more than three times the annual economic output of the world).	T
Paragraph 2
ii.	According to Corporate Finance Institute (2022), China’s debt is of great concern. (for emerging markets, the threshold is even lower at 64%).	F
Paragraph 3
iii.	Emerging economies will struggle with the repayments of their debts.(it is emerging markets and low-income developing countries who will find it much harder to pay back their debts).	T
Paragraph 4
iv.	The World Bank Group would prefer to eliminate all developing countries’ debt.	NG
Paragraph 5
v.	The impact of the debt crisis could continue for a very long time. (the effects of the latest global debt crisis could be felt for many years to come).	T

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4. Open Answer Questions: One question per paragraph.

Paragraph 1
i.	What are finance experts and economists across the globe asking policymakers to do?
	Act quickly and decisively to prevent a potentially devastating, emerging crisis.
Paragraph 2
ii.	Which country has the second highest debt in the world?
	Greece with 181.78% of GDP and with national debt of $379bn.
Paragraph 3
iii.	What TWO things do advanced economies have to help them in a debt crisis?
	1. Low interest rates.		2. Central banks
Paragraph 4
iv.	How is this debt crisis different from the last three ‘waves’ of debt?
	This time it involves public and private debt with new types of creditors / and is much more widespread. (either answer)
Paragraph 5
v.	What is the evidence of the likelihood of another economic recession?
	1. Economic slumps.	2. High levels of inflation.		3. Weak growth prospects.

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5. Reference Words: What do these reference words connect to (underlined in the text).

Paragraph	Word	Connection
1	Which	$300tn (example)
1	It	The world being in debt.
2	It	Country.
2	Its	China.
3	Who	Advanced economies.
3	These	Increases in private and public debt.
4	Which	Debt accumulating in the private sector.
4	They	All three waves.
5	It	The debt amassed.

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6. Vocabulary: Search for the word (s) in the paragraph that mean(s):

Paragraph	Explanation	Word (s)
1	To do or be better than.	Surpassed (example)
1	Roughly calculated.	Estimated
1	Starting to exist.	Emerging
2	A way of judging something.	Measure
2	A country with a lot of industrial activity.	Developed economies
3	Similar in size, amount or quality to something else.	Comparable
3	A quality or characteristic that someone or something has.	Attributed
4	Refers to an unpleasant event that is going to happen soon.	Impending
4	A slowdown in economic activity over a period of time.	Economic downturn
5	This is the beginning of a recession.	Economic slump
5	The use of government spending and tax policies to influence economic conditions.	Fiscal policy

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Overall Total: ____ / 36

Task 4: Summary Writing

Take notes on the key points of the text using this outline:

1.Main idea:

Support:

2. Main idea:

Support:

3. Main idea:

Support:

4. Main idea:

Support:

5. Main idea:

Support:

1.Main idea: Ambient air poll. = big. environ. health prob. ppl face.

Support: Ambient air poll = result of hum. act. (The Clean Breathing Institute, 2018).
Rural + urban areas = the same level of poll. (World Health Organisation, 2021).
All countries affected.

2. Main idea: How ambient air poll is measured.

Support: Air qual index = 5 maj. comp. (NO₂, SO₂, O3, NO_X, PM).PM = coarse, fine & ultra fine (most toxic, but not mon (CBI, 2018).
PM2.5 = Reg. mon. – det.
How healthy air is.Beijing & New York – air unhealthy (World’s air quality index, 2021).
London – moderate – score 61 (ibid).Score = less than 50 is good.

3. Main idea: Causes and effects of ambient air poll.

Support: Main cause = hum. act.Industrial process = burn. coal & other fossil fuels.Maj.
threat 2 clean air = petrol & diesel eng. used in ships & vehs. – CO, volatile org. compounds, NOx & PM released & O3 prod (DEFRA n.d.).
Effects: PM – gets into lungs – can lead to cough, wheezing, congestion, bronchitis, stroke, heart disease & lung cancer.
Can aggravate asthma.Ambient air poll. = caused 4.2 m deaths in a yr (WHO, 2021).

4. Main idea: Current measures taken.

Support: Some capital cities: prohibit cars from entering city centres, expand pavements by rivers for tree planting & cycle lanes and invest in public transp.
UK: update enviro. bill = govs – set targ.
2 red. PM, enable councils 2 restrict on smoke emissions.

5. Main idea: From being the problem to becoming the solution.

Support: Increase in green spaces.
Red. PM.Sus.
Transp. Coop & account. among bus & local auth.

Task 5: Summary Writing

Using your notes write a 200-250-word summary of the text.

SUMMARY

Word count: _______

Global Debt – Model Summary

Global debt is an amalgamation of worldwide government, household and corporate debt. At more than three times the annual economic output of the world (CNBC, 2020), societies are currently seeing unprecedented levels of deficit. Using debt-to-GDP ratio; i.e, what a country owes to what it can produce, economists are able to determine the level of debt a nation has. When a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is over a particular threshold, then this could lead to a slowdown in economic growth (Corporate Finance Institute, 2022). This may not have so much of an impact on advanced economies with their low interest rates and central banks for support, but it will have an impact on emerging economies and low income countries which have restricted access to financing and higher borrowing rates, and this could lead to difficulties in paying back the debts owed (CNBC, 2020; Gaspar et al., 2021). Although this situation is of great concern, this is not a new state of affairs. In the past fifty years, there have been three ‘waves’ of debt, and each one shared the same circumstances (World Bank Group, 2022); they all started during a time of promoting borrowing and low interest rates and ended in a worldwide economic downturn or recession. This fourth debt crisis could follow the same pattern, but this time it involves more players and is more universal; the consequences of which could potentially be felt for a many number of years.

240 words

Task 6: Summary Writing Tutorial

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