VOA标准英语10月-UNCTAD: Asia Needs to Strengthen Banking, Finance

The chief of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says Asia needs to strengthen regional financial regulations and cooperation to stem the impact from future financial downturns in the global economy. As Ron Corben reports UNCTAD Secretary General Supachai Panitchpakdi calls for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take a leading role to boost regional cooperation and oversight¹ of the finance markets.
　

The screen shows the Hang Seng Index at a bank in Hong Kong 29 Sept. 2008

Supachai Panitchpakdi, UNCTAD secretary general, says the current global financial crisis provides Asia an opportunity to boost regional cooperation and regulation that could help strengthen banking² systems.

Asia's banking industry has undergone significant reforms since the region's financial crisis in the late 1990s when lending excesses led to scores of banks and finance companies closing, millions of jobs lost and a sharp contraction³ in regional economies.

Supachai says the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should take the lead in boosting intra-regional cooperation in the banking sector⁴.

"Financial regulation within ASEAN, which could help to shield, to shelter the financial system in Asia, is going to be important - because fortunately this time the system has not been globalized enough to have been affected⁵ by the ongoings in the U.S. and EU," he said. "This is the time to be deepening the Asian financial system to set up the pooling of resources.

Regional central banks have poured billions of dollars into credit markets over recent weeks to ease tight credit conditions since the financial crisis erupted in the United States in September. The central banks are also holders⁶ of billions of dollars of foreign exchange reserves.

Supachai's comments come as the U.S. House of Representatives Friday is expected to vote again on a revised $700 billion bailout plan after the bill was struck down Monday. The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday for a revised package.

Supachai says the rescue package must be seen only as a first step towards major reform of the U.S. financial system.

"The rescue operation, the relief measure will be just a relief measure," he said. "This is just to prevent the crisis from deepening - it doesn't mean that we've already succeeded in tackling the basic issues. So there needs to be a rethinking of the way that financial institutions have been managed and have been regulated in the United States and I think throughout the world."

Supachai warned that the global economy is likely to face both inflation as well as recession going into the final quarter of 2008. He said governments and central banks need to follow policies promoting economic stability in order to enable the financial crisis to pass.

Share prices across Asia fell Friday in anticipation⁷ of the U.S. Labor⁸ Department's unemployment report. Investors⁹ are eager for unemployment to remain in check because widespread job losses could damp consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation's economic activity. The Nikkei 225 index fell almost two percent, while Australia's SandP/ASX 200 index was down one point three percent with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down over two percent.

1 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

4 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。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

7 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 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