纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国央行意外下调关键利率试图提振经济

China’s central bank on Thursday cut a key interest rate, in Beijing’s second move this week to try to offset a weakening economy and a housing market crisis.

中国央行周四下调了一个关键利率，这是中国政府本周第二次采取行动，试图弥补经济疲软和房地产市场危机的影响。

The unexpected action came as stock markets fell sharply across most of Asia, in an echo of Wall Street’s sharp drop the day before. Market indexes fell roughly 1 to 3 percent in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

中国采取这次意外行动时，亚洲的大多数股市正随着一天前的华尔街股指骤降而大幅下跌。澳大利亚、日本、韩国和香港的股指下跌幅度在1%至3%之间。

But share prices were down by less in Shanghai and Shenzhen. That could reflect a favorable response by investors to the central bank’s rate move, or a sign of intervention by the Chinese government, which plays an extensive role in the country’s stock markets.

但上海和深圳的股指下跌幅度较小。这可能反映了投资者对央行利率调整的积极响应，也可能是中国政府干预的迹象，中国政府在国内股市起着广泛的作用。

As markets opened in China on Thursday, the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, reduced its interest rate for one-year loans to commercial banks to 2.3 percent, from 2.5 percent. It was the biggest cut to that rate since a similar reduction in April 2020, when the Chinese economy was struggling because of a nearly national lockdown in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

中国股市周四开盘时，中国人民银行将商业银行一年期贷款利率从2.5%下调到2.3%。这是自2020年4月的一次类似下调以来最大的降息幅度，那次是在新冠病毒暴发初期，由于全国各地几乎都处于封控状态，国内经济陷入了困境。

The central bank surprised markets because it normally reviews the one-year loan rate only on the 15th of each month. It kept the rate steady on July 15, and also left it unchanged on Monday when it adjusted other rates.

这次降息令市场感到意外，因为央行一般是在每月15日评估一年期贷款利率。央行没有在7月15日那天调整一年期贷款利率，本周一调整其他利率时，也没有调整这个利率。

The People’s Bank of China said in a statement only that Thursday’s rate cut was intended to “maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the banking system at the end of the month.”

中国人民银行在一份声明中称，周四降息的目的是“为维护月末银行体系流动性合理充裕”。

The one-year rate is important as a guide to commercial banks on the interest rates that they use for loans to corporate customers and also to the financing units of local governments. Beijing blocks local governments from borrowing directly from banks, but has allowed them to set up financial units that do so.

一年期贷款利率对商业银行向企业客户贷款，以及向地方政府的融资部门贷款的利率具有重要指导意义。虽然中央政府禁止地方政府直接从银行借款，但允许它们设立的金融机构从银行借款。

Many of these financial units are now deep in debt, and the local governments that control them have been cutting the salaries of teachers and other civil servants to conserve cash.

这些金融机构中许多现在负债累累，控制这些金融机构的地方政府为了节省现金，一直在降低教师和其他公务员的工资。

The reduction in the one-year interest rate followed moves by the central bank on Monday to lower other rates that it controls. The actions came after a conclave of the Communist Party’s leadership on economic policy last week that did not produce the broad course correction that many economists have recommended.

降低一年期贷款利率之前，央行已在周一下调了其控制的其他利率。这些降息行动是在中共上周召开“三中全会”讨论经济政策之后采取的，“三中全会”没有像许多经济学家建议的那样对经济做出广泛调整。

The party reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing economic self-reliance through further investment in industry, while saying less about consumer spending.

中共重申了致力于经济自力更生，将进一步投资工业，但没有太多地提消费支出问题。

Top Chinese economists defended the party’s plan at a government-organized news briefing in Beijing on Thursday afternoon. Liu Xiaoguang, an economic development specialist at Renmin University in Beijing, pointed out that the plan calls for more assistance to families for child-rearing and elder care.

中国的主要经济学家在周四下午北京举行的交流会上为中共的政策做了辩护。人民大学经济发展专家刘晓光指出，三中全会的《决定》要求为家庭在育儿和养老方面提供更多帮助。

“We will have huge potential to unleash in those two industries,” he said.

“我们在这两个行业将释放巨大潜能，”他说。

By reducing rates now, instead of waiting for a possible cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve this autumn, China runs the risk of prompting more companies and households to move money out of the country as they seek to earn more interest elsewhere. That could cause China’s currency, the renminbi, to weaken further against the dollar.

中国现在就降息，而不是等美联储可能在今年秋天降息后再这样做，存在促使更多的企业和家庭为寻求在其他地方挣更多利息而将资金转移到国外的风险，并可能会导致人民币兑美元进一步贬值。

Lower rates might also prompt a revival of speculative borrowing schemes that were a problem for Beijing several years ago.

更低的利率还可能推动投机性借贷体系的复苏，那是中国政府几年前曾面临的一个问题。

But Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist who specializes in China’s monetary policy, said that such concerns appeared to be secondary right now. “Supporting growth is taking precedence over other objectives, such as limiting financial risks or preventing currency depreciation,” he said.

但康奈尔大学专门研究中国货币政策的经济学家埃斯瓦尔·普拉萨德说，这种担忧目前似乎是次要的。“支持增长正在凌驾于其他目标之上，比如限制金融风险或防止货币贬值，”他说。