Task 1.Read the text and determine if the statements are true (T) or false (F).

Established in 1935, the Bank of Argentina - BCRA was charged with regulating and controlling the banking and credit systems as well as the money supply and foreign exchange system. Specifically, the Bank enforced exchange rate policies and managed foreign reserves, supervised financial markets, administered the Financial Entities Law, (which updated the structure of the financial system), acted as Argentina’s financial agent, and also as depository and agent for the nation in the international and banking organizations to which it is a party.

The 1991 Convertibility Law limited the BCRA’s economic function to a large extent, turning it into a monetary control board (buying and selling foreign exchange in the market) rather than the powerful monetary policy maker it once was. The domestic money supply is now tied to the country’s external reserves (the principal instrument of monetary policy), and the bank is prohibited from using monetary tools, such as buying or selling government securities to manage liquidity in the system. Thus, the central bank cannot independently increase the money supply and, as a result, monetary policy as a tool for managing Argentine economic growth no longer exists.

The BCRA is no longer allowed to finance central or provincial governments (except under certain emergency conditions). As a result, the government must finance itself through its own means: credit and the taxation of businesses and individuals.

1. The Bank of Argentina, as a large commercial bank, carries out exchange rate policies and managers the national debt.

2. Under the 1935 Law, the infant Central Bank of Argentina was geared "to promote the liquidity and smooth operation of credit", and it prohibited banks to execute transactions that might endanger such liquidity.

3. Under the 1991 Convertibility Law, the economic functions of the Bank of Argentina were transformed and expanded.

4.Since the repeal of the Convertibility Law in January 2002, the devaluation and depreciation of the peso and the end of the economic crisis, BCRA’s role has been the accumulation of reserves in order to gain a measure of control of the exchange rate.

5.Beingnormally subordinate to the Economy Ministry in matters of policy, the Bank of Argentina is considered an independent central bank.

6.The BCRA buys dollars from the market to neutralize the large surplus of the foreign trade balance and keep the official exchange rate at the level desired by the government.

7. The BCRA is empowered to use monetary tools, such as buying or selling government securities to implement the foreign exchange policy.

8.The BCRA continues to intervene in the exchange market, usually buying dollars, though occasionally selling small amounts.

9. Argentina’s economic growth is closely controlled and monitored by the government on the basis of the central bank’s operations on the foreign exchange market.

10.The Argentine Central Bank is a National State self-governed institution, whose primary and fundamental mission is to preserve the value of the Argentine currency.

Task 2.Read the text and choose the best variant from the box to fill in the gaps.

Trading activities, ____(1)____ often highly profitable, are dangerous because they make it easy for financial institutions and their employees to make huge ____(2)____ quickly. ____(3)____ the ability to place large bets, a ____(4)____, ____(5)____ he or she trades in bond markets, in foreign exchange markets, or in financial derivatives, has an incentive to take on ____(6)____ risks: if his or her trading ____(7)____ leads to large profits, he or she is likely to receive a high salary and ____(8)____, but if he or she takes large losses, the financial institution will have to cover them.

To reduce this problem, managers of financial institutions must set up internal controls which ____(9)____ include complete separation of the people in charge of trading activities from those in charge of the ____(10)____ for trade.

	A	B	C	D
	while	although	in spite of	however
	jackpot	gamble	bets	bids
	giving	being given	while given	given
	trader	broker	dealer	player
	be it	weather	if	whether
	exclusive	excessive	successive	exposure
	objective	policy	strategy	goal
	bonuses	premiums	overtime	commission
	among one another	among other	between others	among others
	accounting	bookkeeping	reporting	recording