UK Government Borrowing Rises More Than Expected
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The UK government borrowed more money in August than experts thought.
This is called government borrowing. It means the government spends more than it gets.
Prices are going up. This is called inflation. Inflation makes borrowing higher.
The chancellor is the government minister for money. The chancellor now feels more pressure.
Soon, the chancellor must give the Budget. This is a big plan for taxes and spending.
The high borrowing makes the Budget harder to plan.
People want to know how the government will fix this problem.
The government must decide about taxes and public spending soon.
Vocabulary15 words
- borrowed
- took money that you must pay back later
- government borrowing
- money the government takes to pay for its costs
- inflation
- when prices go up over time
- chancellor
- the government leader for money matters
- Budget
- a plan for spending and taxes
- taxes
- money people pay to the government
- public spending
- money the government spends on things like schools and roads
- pressure
- a difficult feeling because of a problem
- expected
- thought would happen
- experts
- people who know a lot about something
- plan
- an idea about what to do
- problem
- something difficult
- money
- what people use to buy things
- minister
- an important person in the government
- decide
- to choose
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Quiz
Answer key
1. It was higher than expected 2. Inflation 3. The chancellor
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Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
The UK government _____ more money in August than experts thought.
This is called government _____. It means the government spends more than it gets.
Prices are going up. This is called _____. Inflation makes borrowing higher.
The _____ is the government minister for money. The chancellor now feels more pressure.
Soon, the chancellor must give the _____. This is a big plan for taxes and spending.
The high borrowing makes the Budget harder to _____.
People want to know how the government will _____ this problem.
The government must decide about _____ and public spending soon.
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