Aid Package to Ease Inflation Pain

B2 – Upper Intermediate

As nations struggle with widespread cost of living crisis, governments must come up with measures to help their respective countries deal with the consequences of inflation.

Read the article about Spain’s $10bn aid package as a bid to ease the impact of inflation in the country. 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/27/spain-announces-10bn-aid-package-in-bid-to-ease-inflation-pain

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does the expression ”to hit one’s wallet” mean, ”But food prices have continued to hit Spaniards’ wallets, climbing 15 percent during October and November from a year earlier.”? Use this idiom in your own sentence.
  2. What does “haulage” mean, “However, a rebate on the price of petrol for consumers except for the haulage sector will be discontinued.”? Use this word in your own sentence.
  3. What does “exacerbate” mean, “Measures come as Madrid grapples with a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by the economic fallout from the Ukraine war.”? Use this word in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is this aid package advantageous and disadvantageous?
  2. What are your thoughts on handing millions of low-income households a one-off bonus of 200 euros?
  3. Talk about some measures that your government has implemented to ease inflation consequences in your country.
  4. What other measures do you think can help a country get by during inflation?
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2 replies on “Aid Package to Ease Inflation Pain”

Vocabulary Questions:
1. “to hit one’s wallet”
A tree fell on my roof in the last windstorm. What a mess! It was a really big hit to my wallet.
2. “haulage”
The railway was replaced by road haulage in the mid-20th century as the main means of transporting goods.
3. “exacerbate”
Everyone is arguing in the neighborhood council, interfering now would only exacerbate the situation

Discussion Questions:
1. How is this aid package advantageous and disadvantageous?
The aid package will help people with the basic products in their shopping cart, but there are very critical sectors since livestock or fishing have not entered into the tax reduction. In addition, people were already used to the reduction in the price of diesel and now they are facing very high prices.
2. What are your thoughts on handing millions of low-income households a one-off bonus of 200 euros?
I think it’s giving a little help to some homes, which may not solve their problems, but giving it to so many people will be a high cost for the state.
3. Talk about some measures that your government has implemented to ease inflation consequences in your country.
I live in Spain
4. What other measures do you think can help a country get by during inflation?
I think that the best aid is not direct aid, but aid to improve wages and reduce taxes. I also think that there should be energy aid to the most needy households.

You did much better than last time. Glad that you were able to apply the suggestion from your previous lesson.

Here is just one sentence you can improve by not using the same word repeatedly in the same sentence.

I think that the best aid is not direct aid, but aid to improve wages and reduce taxes.

I think that the best help is not a direct one, but an aid to improve wages and reduce taxes.

Keep practicing.

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