Buying a bond is an investment (whereby you lend money to a company or government) that is repaid at a fixed interest rate at a specific time.

BCI stands for business confidence index. A BCI is an index used to determine the confidence of the commercial world in the business situation and the health of the economy.

We use the formula below to calculate compound interest. A is the end amount and P is the present amount.

CPI stands for consumer price index. We use a CPI to measure the changes in the prices of selected consumer goods every month to indicate changes in general living costs.

A decimal number is a fraction written with a power of ten as denominator. We use a decimal comma to separate units from tenths, hundredths, thousandths and so on.

The numerator is the top quantity of a fraction. The denominator is the bottom quantity of a fraction.

In direct proportion, two quantities are directly related to each other by the formula shown below. Direct proportion is a 'more=more' situation.

Equities are stocks or shares issued by a company.

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. The GDP of a country is the total value of all goods produced and services delivered in a country over a specific period.

Hire purchase is a method of buying goods where the buyer takes possession of the object and repays it monthly over an agreed period of time.

A financial index gives the trends in the stock prices of a number of selected companies.

Inflation is the decrease in the purchasing power of money in a country as a result of the general rise in the cost of living.

In inverse proportion, two quantities are indirectly related to each other. Inverse proportion is a 'more=less' situation.

An investment is a money committed to a project with the expectation of obtaining additional money from it over time.

Market capitalisation is the total value of the shares issued by a company. We multiply the number of shares by the current market price of one share.

Yield is the interest earned on an investment, expressed as a percentage.

We calculate the yield with the formula:

The number of registered votes in the municipal area determines the number of wards in the municipality. Half of the number of councillors determined must be elected in wards.

In the election for local council, each voter has two votes. One for a specific candidate and one for a specific party.

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. C is consumer spending, G is government spending, I is company spending and NX is national net exports.