18. The following excerpt is from an article by Lucy Meakin and David Goodman:

Germany is planning to auction its longest-maturity inflation-linked bonds to date, a sign that the slowest pace of consumer-price increases in the euro region for more than four years isn’t deterring investors.15

a. What is an inflation-linked bond?

b. Why do you think that investors are not deterred from buying these bonds despite low rates of inflation in recent years?

c. What is meant by a “credit rating”?

d. What commercial entities provide credit ratings?

e. What is an internal credit rating?