A ‣ Rise and fall

These verbs describe trends [movements] in sales [how much you sell], prices, etc.

When sales or prices rise / go up / increase, they can do it in different ways:
They can rise slightly [a bit].
They can rise gradually [slowly over a long period].
They can rise sharply [quickly and by a large amount].

The opposite can also happen. Prices or sales can fall / go down / decrease slightly, gradually or sharply. If prices don’t rise or fall, they stay the same.

We use certain prepositions to say by how much something rises or falls.
The price has risen by 10 pence.
Sales fell from 8,000 units to 6,500 units.

Rise/increase and fall/decrease can also be used as nouns, with certain prepositions.
There’s been a gradual rise in prices.
There’s been a sharp fall in sales.
We’ve seen a slight increase in profit.
Profits were £5 million, which is a decrease of 10%.

B ‣ Financial language

With the economy¹ now improving, banks are reporting positive signs² that the number of loans³ is increasing.

Within flation⁴ expected to rise, there are growing fears⁵ that interest rates⁶ could go up by as much as 2%⁷ next year.

Figures⁸ published yesterday show that trade⁹ between the two countries has now risen for the fifth year in a row¹⁰.

CURRENCY
Although the value¹¹ of the pound fell slightly against the dollar yesterday, the news that sales rose in the last quarter¹² has raised¹³ hopes that we may be coming out of recession¹⁴.

¹ the system by which a country’s trade, industry
² something which shows something is happening
³ money that you borrow
⁴ the rate at which prices increase
⁵ increasing worries
⁶ (see language help below)
⁷ this is spoken as two per cent
⁸ an amount shown in numbers, e.g. 500 and money are organised
⁹ buying and selling between countries
¹⁰ one after another with no break
¹¹ the money that something can be sold for
¹² (in business) a period of three months
¹³ increased; you can also raise prices
¹⁴ a time when the economy is not successful