2019年经济学人 政府秘密贷款(1)

 

How to stop governments borrowing behind their people's backs

如何阻止政府背着人民借贷

In 2016 the government of Mozambique confessed to secret debts of $1.4bn, or 11% of GDP,

2016年，莫桑比克政府承认了14亿美元的秘密债务，占GDP的11%，

mostly as loan guarantees for statebacked companies.

大部分是为国有企业提供贷款担保。

Growth faltered¹, the currency slumped² and foreign donors³ pulled back.

经济增长步履蹒跚，货币暴跌，外国捐助者纷纷撤资。

The results have been "devastating⁴", says Denise Namburete, a civilsociety activist⁵,

公民社会活动家Denise Namburete在描述已经两年没有药品的

describing health centres that have gone two years without medicines.

医疗中心时称结果是“灾难性的”。

American prosecutors⁶ are pursuing eight people involved in the scandal,

美国检察官正在追捕八名涉案人员

including three foreign bankers and a former finance minister, on charges of moneylaundering and fraud.

包括三位国外银行家以及一位前财政部长，指控他们洗钱以及诈骗。

The Mozambique case may be unusual—or not.

莫桑比克的情况可能不同寻常，也可能很普通。

Even the IMF is scratching its head about how much governments truly owe.

就连国际货币基金（IMF）也不知道政府到底欠了多少钱。

In some places the mystery is loans from China and other emerging lenders.

在一些地方，这种神秘来自于中国和其他新兴国家的贷款。

In others it is advance payments from oil traders, liabilities from public-private partnerships⁷ or hidden loans from commercial banks.

在其他地方，是来自于石油交易商的预付款、来自公私伙伴的债务或是来自商业银行的隐性贷款。

The Institute of International Finance (IIF), a group of banks and financial institutions,

一个由银行和金融机构组成的团体—国际金融协会（IIF）

has responded to mounting concern by drafting principles on debt transparency.

针对日益加剧的担忧，起草了有关债务透明度的原则。

Finance ministers of G20 countries endorsed⁸ them at a summit in Fukuoka, in Japan, on June 8th-9th.

在6月8日到9日，G20国的财政部长在日本福冈举行的峰会上通过了该草案。

The IIF principles are voluntary and would apply only to lending from the private sector⁹, not from states.

IIF的原则是自愿的，只适用于私营部门的贷款，不适用于国家贷款。

Lenders would disclose any loans they make to low-income governments or state firms within 60-120 days of funds being released.

贷款机构将在资金发放后60至120天内披露它们向低收入政府或国有企业发放的任何贷款。

Details would include the loan's purpose and structure, and a range within which the interest rate falls.

其细节将包括贷款的用途及结构，以及利率下降的幅度。

The data would be held by an international institution, perhaps the IMF or World Bank.

数据将由一家国际机构持有，可能是IMF或世界银行。

1 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

2 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

3 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

7 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

8 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。