Economic Terms

Floating Debt: Generally, any short-term debt, specifically, the part of the national debt that consists of short-term borrowing.Fringe benefits: Rewards for employment over and above the wager paid. e.g. goods at a discount, subsidized meals, arrangements, etc.

Fiscal Policy: that part of government policy which is concerned with raising revenue through taxation and deciding on the level and pattern of expenditure.

Fixed Costs: Costs which in the short run do not vary with outputs. These costs are borne even if no output is produced.

Asset: Anything of monetary value that is owned by a person. Assets include real property, personal property, and enforceable claims against others (including bank accounts, stocks, mutual funds, and so on)

Base year: In the construction of an index, the year from which the weights assigned to the different components of the index is drawn. It is conventional to set the value of an index in its base year equal to 100. Bear: An investor with a pessimistic market outlook; an investor who expects prices to fall and so sells now in order to buy later at a lower price. A Bear Market is one which is trending downwards or losing value.

Bid price: The highest price an investor is willing to pay for a stock.

Bill of exchange: A written, dated, and signed three-party instrument containing an unconditional order by a drawer that directs a drawee to pay a definite sum of money to a payee on demand or at a specified future date. Also known as a draft. It is the most commonly used financial instrument in international trade.

Bond: A certificate of debt (usually interest-bearing or discounted) that is issued by a government or corporation in order to raise money; the bond issuer is required to pay a fixed sum annually until maturity and then a fixed sum to repay the principal. Bonds guide.

Collateral security: Additional security a borrower supplies to obtain a loan.

Compound interest: Interest paid on the original principal and on interest accrued from time it became due.

Consumer Surplus is the difference between the price a consumer pays and what they were prepared to pay.

Direct tax: A tax that you pay directly, as opposed to indirect taxes, such as tariffs and business taxes. The income tax is a direct tax, as are property taxes. See also Indirect Tax.

Double taxation: Corporate earnings taxed at both the corporate level and again as a stockholder dividend

Exchange rate: The price of one currency stated in terms of another currency, when exchanged.

Inflation is the percentage increase in the prices of goods and services.

Repo rate: This is one of the credit management tools used by the Reserve Bank to regulate liquidity in South Africa (customer spending). The bank borrows money from the Reserve Bank to cover its shortfall. The Reserve Bank only makes a certain amount of money available and this determines the repo rate. If the bank requires more money than what is available, this will increase the repo rate – and vice versa.

Revenue expenditure: This is expenditure on recurring items, including the running of services and financing capital spending that is paid for by borrowing. This is meant for normal running of governments’ maintenance expenditures, interest payments, subsidies and transfers etc. It is current expenditure which does not result in the creation of assets. Grants given to State governments or other parties are also treated as revenue expenditure even if some of the grants may be meant for creating assets.

Subsidy : Financial assistance (often from the government) to a specific group of producers or consumers.
Reverse Repo Rate
Reverse repo rate is the rate of interest at which the RBI borrows funds from other banks in the short term . This is done by RBI selling government bonds / securities to banks with the commitment to buy them back at a future date. The banks use the reverse repo facility to deposit their short-term excess funds with the RBI and earn interest on it. RBI can reduce liquidity in the banking system by increasing the rate at which it borrows from banks. Hiking the repo and reverse repo rate ends up reducing the liquidity and pushes up interest rates.
How Reverse Repo Rate Works?
When the RBI increases the Reverse Repo, it means that now the RBI will provide extra interest on the money which it borrows from the banks. An increase in reverse repo rate means that banks earn higher returns by lending to RBI. This indicates a hike in the deposit rates.
Repo rate, or repurchase rate, is the rate at which RBI lends to banks for short periods. This is done by RBI buying government bonds from banks with an agreement to sell them back at a fixed rate. If the RBI wants to make it more expensive for banks to borrow money, it increases the repo rate. Similarly, if it wants to make it cheaper for banks to borrow money, it reduces the repo rate. RBI uses this tool to control the money supply.
How Repo Rate Works?
When RBI reduces the Repo Rate, the banks can borrow more at a lower cost. This contributes to lowering of the rates.
Cash Reserve Ratio
The Cash Reserve Ratio is the amount of funds that the banks are bound to keep with Reserve bank of India, with reference to the demand and time liabilities (NDTL) to ensure the liquidity and solvency of the Banks.  The CRR is maintained fortnightly average basis.