Internation Currency war- Devaluations

Devaluations

This weeks blog post is about devaluation of international currencies. In an article in the Guardian the Brazilian Finance minister states that countries are keeping the value of their currencies artificially low to support their export industries.Read the article and then:-

Write a short report on the history of the value of your countries currency or that of another currency against the value of the dollar this year. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of devaluation of your countries currency to your company. As your teacher to mark your report or add it to this blog.

Irish banks BAILOUT

This week’s article is a very short one for a change and it is not from a newspaper, it is from yahoo. However, the language is still quite difficult it deals with rumors of the need for a bailout of the Irish banking system. Follow the link for an explanation of bailout. http://www.squidoo.com/learning-financial-and-professional-english
We do not have a quiz this week instead we have two writing exercises for you to try.

Please read the article and the explanation then prepare firstly a very short note to your boss on the contents of this article. Write as if your company has money in the Irish banks.
Then write an email to your Irish bank manager asking him-
1) If his bank will need financial assistance for the IMF
2) If he expects any further large financial losses
3) Also ask how much money the bank holds in gold reserves.
Give your exercises to your teacher for marking or add then as comments to the blog so I can mark them.
Have a good week look out for a new posting next weekend.

Tax BLUNDER- Quiz

Tax BLUNDER » exam maker

Tax BLUNDER

This week the British financial press and news reports have been full of new of a scandal over a blunder involving personal taxation. It appears that the Inland Revenue, the organization responsible for collecting taxes, has made a huge mistake when collecting income tax from millions of people. As you can imagine this has caused huge worries to ordinary people as the government is not informing everyone who is affected immediately but will be sending out letters over a period of a few months so the tension is rising.
Many organizations have been devising template letters for people to send to the Inland Revenue when they are asked to pay back money.
The positive side of this is that quite a lot of people will be getting refunds for over paid money.
Your tasks for this week-
Please read the article and then do the quiz which will follow in the next posting.
Then I would like you to do two pieces of writing and ask your teacher to mark them for you. Or send them to me as comments on this blog and I will mark them for you.
Writing task one.
You have received a letter from the tax authorities saying that they made a blunder and you owe them money. Pick one of the templates which you can find by following this link and use it to write a letter to the tax man.

Writing task two
You have received a refund of £500.00 write an email to your best friend telling them how you will spend the money.

This week's quiz on the USA Housing market

Mortgage modification and negative equity » exam maker

Mortgage modification and negative equity

This week I have two new financial expressions for you “negative equity” and “a mortgage moderation.” Check out their meaning on my squidoo lens.

These expressions come from a long Guardian article on the US housing market. The article reveals some shocking statistics about the property market in the US and also a very interesting and unusual way which the government is encouraging the lenders to use in the hope of solving this problem.

Is negative equity a big problem where you live? Discuss the “jamboree of delinquent borrowers” with your partner. Would people be interested in this type of help in your country or would they prefer to keep their financial problems private.
Read the article carefully and then try the quiz in the next post.