美国国家公共电台 NPR--The British economy is in freefall with a rare intervention by the Bank of England

The British economy is in freefall with a rare intervention¹ by the Bank of England

Transcript²

Britain's currency weakened to a record low against the U.S. dollar, while government borrowing costs shot up. This happened after the new conservative government announced new economic proposals.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The British economy has faced some significant challenges in the past few days.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The country's currency, the pound, weakened to a record low against the U.S. dollar while government borrowing costs shot up. All this happened after the new Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Liz Truss, announced new economic proposals.

FADEL: Willem Marx joins us from London with details. Hi, Willem.

WILLEM MARX: Hey.

FADEL: OK. So the British economy is in turmoil³. The pound has slumped⁴. And the new British prime minister, Liz Truss, she's been on the job less than a month and is already facing pressure from within her party to fire her finance minister. What's going on?

MARX: Well, you're right. It's been a very volatile⁵ few days on the markets since these economic proposals were unveiled by that finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, last Friday; the pound actually now slightly stronger this morning than it was on Monday, but not by much. The turmoil was essentially⁶ sparked when Kwarteng, the new finance minister, announced tax cuts in the last week. There was a nasty chain reaction. Very quickly, as you said, the pound weakened. The costs for British government borrowing, they've shot up. This, in turn, led to a warning from the International Monetary⁷ Fund, who issued a statement saying that the government's tax cut plans were economically risky⁸. They were likely to create greater income inequality. And then yesterday, there was a very rare intervention by the central bank here, the Bank of England, which stepped in and promised to start buying up U.K. government bonds. And this, essentially, was to create an artificial demand for them so the interest rates on those bonds would not rise too high.

FADEL: But was this to be expected? I mean, this is what Liz Truss promised when she campaigned to replace Boris Johnson. She said she would lower taxes, and she did. Why did this make people nervous?

MARX: Well, part of the difficulty was that there was not a huge amount of detail when Truss' finance minister addressed Parliament about this last week. He promised a new economic era. He said British economic growth had been lower than it should have been in the past. His solution seemed to be to lower taxes slightly for everyone and lower them quite a bit, 5% for the country's highest earners, as well as end caps on bonuses for the very top earners in the financial sector⁹. The thinking was that those high earners will invest more in Britain. They'd expand businesses; they'd create jobs - trickle-down economics. But the reaction focused on the fact that these ideas were not costed. That's to say there was no explanation given for how exactly the government planned to make up the shortfall in public funding these tax cuts would generate besides borrowing more money. And it was that plan to borrow so much more money, many tens of billions of dollars, without total clarity about long-term plans to repay that money that made investors¹⁰ so nervous.

FADEL: I guess it's a different economic era. So what are the political and social consequences of the government's actions over the past week?

MARX: Well, Conservative Party members of Parliament, they've already expressed unhappiness with Liz Truss' finance minister, but the government's insisting they're going to stick to these economic guns. One thing that's particularly spooked those Conservative legislators is the very strong showing in polls of the opposition¹¹ Labour Party, the highest they've been in many years. And the party's leader, Sir Keir Starmer, he's accused Liz Truss and her Cabinet of having lost control of the economy. He said in an interview with the BBC yesterday he thought they should rethink these new proposals and suggested an early recall of Parliament to discuss the crisis. For ordinary people here, though, including many Conservative voters, the fallout will be in much, much higher mortgage payments in the months ahead. And with just two years till the next election here, that may still make Liz Truss and her finance minister rethink this policy move.

FADEL: Willem Marx, talking to us from London, thank you so much.

MARX: Thank you.

1 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

4 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。

5 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

8 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

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。

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。