Reading Comprehension for IBPS Clerk 2017: Set – 37

Reading Comprehension for IBPS Clerk 2017. Welcome to the www.letsstudytogether.co online English section. If you are preparing for IBPS Clerk 2017 exam, you will come across a section on the English language. Here we are providing you Reading Comprehension for IBPS Clerk 2017 based on the latest pattern of your daily practice.

Reading Comprehension for IBPS Clerk 2017 will help you learn concepts on important topics in English Section.

This “Reading Comprehension for IBPS Clerk 2017” is also important for other banking exams such as IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, SBI Clerk, IBPS RRB Officer, IBPS RRB Office Assistant, IBPS SO, SBI SO and other competitive exams.

Reading Comprehension for IBPS Clerk 2017

Directions: (1-10) Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions. Certain words are in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
If asked before the start of 2017 to bet on which important central bank would be the first to raise interest rates this year, the safe choice would have been the Federal Reserve. Some gamblers, relishing the long odds, might have gone for the Bank of England or even taken a flutter on the European Central Bank. All these guesses would have been wrong. The first to budge this year? The People’s Bank of China.
On February 3rd the Chinese central bank raised a series of short-term rates. The decision received scant attention. The increases were, after all, small: one-tenth of a percentage point for the main rates. It also seemed quite technical, primarily affecting liquidity tools that lenders can tap if short of cash. And there was no fanfare: the central bank did not publish an explanation.

But China’s move is important for two reasons. First, it highlights the government’s dilemma in managing the economy. Growth is expected to slow from last year’s pace of 6.7%, and recent surveys suggest that momentum is already ebbing. Sentiment is fragile: investment by private companies last year increased at its slowest pace in more than a decade. This would normally not be the time to launch a monetary-tightening cycle. However, other dangers loom. The housing market is frothy. Credit growth has been excessive. And financial institutions have used increasing amounts of debt to buy bonds.
The central bank hopes to strike a balance. By nudging up money-market rates, it wants to push lenders and investors to pare back their borrowing. But it also wants to avoid harming growth.
It is a fine line. Chinese policymakers at least have one advantage over peers in developed economies: they can count on the press to amplify their message. State television said the rate rise would affect financial institutions, but not the public—as if it were somehow possible to segregate one from the other.

This points to the second ramification: the way in which the People’s Bank of China conducts monetary policy is changing. It is beginning to look a little more like central banks in developed economies as it shifts towards liberalised interest rates. Rather than simply ordering banks to set specific lending or deposit rates—the focus for many years in China—it is altering the monetary environment around them. China does not yet have an equivalent of the federal-funds rate in America or the refinancing rate in Europe, but it has a few candidates for its new benchmark interest rate. The seven-day bond-repurchase rate, which influences banks’ funding costs, is in pole position.

There is also an element of political intrigue in this transition to a more mature monetary framework. The Chinese central bank sits under the State Council, or cabinet, which has the final say over lending and deposit rates as well as other big policy decisions. Repo rates, by contrast, are seen as sufficiently abstruse for the central bank to decide on its own when it wants to change them.

In other words, the more technical a policy is, the more technocrats can carve out space for themselves. Yet this also gives the Chinese central bank one more reason to raise rates cautiously. Were its actions to have a bigger impact on the economy, its newfound, if limited, independence would not last long.

1.Why did the decision of Chinese central bank to raise interest rates in 2017 did not receive much attention?
a. The China’s central bank is loosing its charm in comparison with banks of other countries.
b. The other banks in the world had already taken this step.
c. The central bank is notorious for continuously changing its interest rates.
d. The change in the interest rate increases was considerably small to make a huge difference.
e. The decision was forced upon China by other coutries.

2.Why does the author feel that China’s move on increasing the interest rate was important?
A. It reflects the need to encourage the investors to invest in underdeveloped countries.
B. It reflects a change in framing the monetary policy by People’s Bank of China.
C. It reflects government’s difficult position in managing the economy.
a. Only A
b. Only B
c. Only C
d. Both B and C
e. All A, B and C

3.Which of the following was the first central bank to raise interest rates in the year 2017?
a. Bank of England
b. People’s Bank of China
c. European Central Bank
d. Federal Reserve
e. Not mentioned in the passage

4.What is the expected trend in economic growth for China?
a. It is expected to rise meteorically.
b. It is expected to maintain a steady level.
c. It is expected to fall eventually, though it is still rising.
d. It is falling, and is expected to continue to fall.
e. It is unpredictable.

5.What advantage do the Chinese policymakers have over those of other developed nations?
a. They can work without the risk of political repercussions.
b. The press and media aid in spreading their message positively.
c. Their economy is much more stable.
d. Their increasing population ensures them the consistent supply of labour.
e. They have an increasing consume base.

6.Who among the following has the last say over the change of lending and deposit rates by the Chinese central bank?
a. The Chinese policymakers
b. The State Council
c. The Financial Institutions
d. The Housing Market
e. The Investors

7.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word Ramification as used in the passage?
a. Conduct
b. Responsibility
c. Aftermath
d. Juncture
e. Rivalry

8.Which of the following is farthest in meaning from the word Relishing as used in the passage?
a. Abhorring
b. Embarrassing
c. Releasing
d. Savouring
e. Fugitive

9.Which of the following is farthest in meaning from the word Abstruse as used in the passage?
a. Obscurity
b. Perplexity
c. Obvious
d. Keenness
e. Abstract

10.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word Intrigue as used in the passage?
a. Suppress
b. Fascinate
c. Oppress
d. Amiable
e. Alacrity

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