PART A – CASE STUDY 

World's Highest and Lowest Inflation Rates 2021

Inflation rates are rising in every country but not equally so. 

  

Higher inflation is here, but is it here to stay? You'd be forgiven if you are confused by the number of conflicting predictions, the different proposed strategies to curtail the rise in the cost of products and services, and even by whether inflation is really such a bad thing or, rather, a sign of a healthy economy. And all that without even beginning to consider inflation's ugly siblings: stagflation, hyperinflation, and deflation.

Some of these questions are fairly easy to answer. Will inflation stay with us for very long?  We don’t know. Can inflation be good? It depends. Do we have the means to keep it under control? Maybe. The truth is that the primary tool used by central banks to bring inflation down—raising interest rates—can sometimes potentially translate into the classic case of the cure being worse than the disease.

If low rates encourage consumers and business to borrow and spend more money, the opposite will obviously happen with higher rates—and when spending drops, so do prices and inflation. The problem is that intervening either too little or too much, too soon or too late, can unleash a number of unpleasant side effects: for example, increasing interest rates too rapidly can hurt fragile economies, damage up-and-coming businesses that rely heavily on credit to get started, worsen unemployment, and erode economic growth—in other words, cause a recession. In that sense, stable, moderate inflation is a sign of a healthy economy: as the economy grows, wages and consumer demand grow too; to meet increased demand, businesses gradually start hiring more people, buying more materials and supplies, and charging proportionally more for their products.

The truth is that, just as there is no unique variable that can help predict inflation, there is also no sure-shot sequence of actions that can bring it down with the absolute certainty that no unwanted repercussion will follow. This is why, today, no serious expert is betting on how long this period of rising costs will last. Just months ago, encouraged by the vaccine rollout in many countries, central bankers around the world seemed more optimistic: they often described the first spikes in inflation as just “blips” bound to disappear soon. They were right about the main reason for those blips: Covid-19 caused serious disruption to the global economy—supply-chain bottlenecks meant that demands for what consumers and firms wanted and needed could not be met which prompted demand to far exceed supply, driving prices upwards. What they could not imagine is that the disruption would last for years, that new variants of the virus would continue to bubble up, that so many people would campaign against mask mandates and vaccines, and that global distribution of vaccines would be so unequal and uneven.

Meanwhile, according to the IMF, inflation is set to increase this year in 144 countries out of 191 compared to 2020, when inflation increased in just 71 nations versus a year earlier. Will this season of global higher inflation last much longer? If we have learned anything over the past two years, it is that it is very difficult to predict the future when it depends to such a great extent on the whims of a virus. Central bankers will have to constantly rely on a wide variety of data to fine-tune their assessments and policies—kick the tires of the economy as we go, so to speak.

Questions

From the above article, it is stated that the inflation rate are varies from one country to another.

Required: Explain the main causes for the differences between the inflation rate from one country to another. Why in some countries the inflation rate is too high? Support your answer with literature review.  

Fiscal policy as one of the most powerful tools to curb the inflation rate considered as a major savour for the nation especially during the inflation.  

Required: By referring to any country, examine the recent budget and critically evaluate the possible effects of the budget in uplifting the current economic problems. Justify with relevant economics literature review to support your answer.

      (50 marks)

PART (B): ECONOMICS REPORT WRITING

Preparation for writing the Economics Report:

• Select a company. It could be from any industry and preferably the company you are working in.

• Identify the determinants of demand for the goods or services of the company that you have chosen.

Below is the information that should be included in your Economics Report. Students are expected to write the economic report in paragraph form. Students are also expected to provide the relevant Literature Review to support and justify your writings.

1) Explain the background of the company.         (5 marks)

2) Critically examine the antecedents of demand for the chosen economic sector. Provide justifications for your answer.       (15 marks)

3) Examining the manager's role in decision-making to ensure cost efficiency entails the following:

(i) advertising or marketing strategies;

(ii) utilizing the resources such as manpower and material, and

(iii) pricing strategies to achieve the objective of the organization.   

      (30 marks)

                   (50 marks)

Guidelines for Writing the Economics Report

Your report should be arranged in the following order:

· Title/Cover Page

· Table of Contents

· Introduction, Body of Contents, and Conclusion (as described above)

· References – references should be up to date (last five years). Students are expected to follow APA guidelines for all assignments.

· Appendices (Optional)

Additional Information

· Word count: 2000 words. The word count is indicative. Try to stay within allocated word count as far as possible. Marks are gained for facts and conciseness, and marks are lost for unnecessary material.

· As a postgraduate student, there is no excuse for poor spelling, bad grammar, or lack of formatting. Use 1.5 lines-spacing with 12-point font size, and pages must be numbered. Use Times New Roman font ONLY.

· You ONLY NEED to submit your couserwork/assignment online via Blackboard website from SEGi University (https://segi2u.blackboard.com/webapps/login/) that is provided to every SEGi University student.

· You DO NOT NEED to submit any hardcopy version of your coursework/assignment.

· Please be sure to make a copy of your coursework/assignment. On a rare occasion, if your coursework/assignment is lost in the Blackboard, you should be able to provide another copy to submit online via the Blackboard website from SEGi University (https://segi2u.blackboard.com/webapps/login/).

· You should use United Kingdom (UK) English language to complete your coursework/assignment.

· Do NOT FORGET to include Name, Identity Card Number/Passport Number, Student Number, Course, Code, Mode of Study, Name of Lecturer, Due Date, and Centre in the coursework/assignment cover sheet. Students who fail to fill-in the student details in this cover sheet, will results in a 10% deduction of total coursework/assignments marks. Students who filled-in inaccurate or misleading information in student details in this cover sheet, you should accept the responsible or risk of affecting your final marks or grade.

· Appendix A (coursework assessment sheet) should include in your coursework/assignment online submission.

Coursework Assignment Submission

Submission of the students’ assignment is due on 24^th July 2022. All assignments must be submitted online to Blackboard. No other form of submission is allowed. Please ensure your student ID number have access to this course in the Blackboard once the semester commences. Late submission due to unable to access the Blackboard will NOT be acceptable