拉加德敦促推行改革以提振增長
Christine Lagarde has called on policymakers to pass a range of economic reforms to avoid the trap of years of lacklustre growth — a trap which the International Monetary Fund’s managing director said risked stoking frustrations with the global economic and political establishment.
克里斯蒂娜•拉加德(Christine Lagarde)呼籲政策制定者出臺一系列經濟改革方案以避免落入多年增長低迷的陷阱——國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)總裁表示，這種陷阱可能引燃人們對全球經濟和政治體制的不滿。
Ms Lagarde’s call to action comes ahead of what is widely anticipated to be the lowering of the IMF’s growth forecasts for the global economy next week at its spring meetings in Washington. Economists at the fund are increasingly pessimistic about growth particularly in emerging economies. They are also wary of new shocks that might emanate from large developing economies such Brazil, China and Russia.
拉加德呼籲採取行動之際，外界普遍預計，IMF將於下週在華盛頓舉行的春季會議期間下調全球增長預測。IMF的經濟學家們日益對增長感到悲觀，尤其是新興經濟體的增長。他們還擔心巴西、中國和俄羅斯等大型發展中經濟體可能帶來新的衝擊。
In January the IMF’s forecast for global growth this year was 3.4 per cent.
今年1月，IMF預計今年全球增長3.4%。
Global growth “remains too slow, too fragile and risks to its durability are increasing”, Ms Lagarde said yesterday in Frankfurt, adding that the threat of a “new mediocre” of weak economic progress had risen.
拉加德昨日在法蘭克福表示，全球增長“依然過於緩慢、過於疲弱，其持久性面臨的風險正在累積”。她補充稱，經濟進展疲弱的“新平庸”威脅有所上升。
“Because growth has been too low for too long, too many people are simply not feeling it,” Ms Lagarde said, later adding that economic frustrations and political uncertainty were “leading people to question established institutions and international norms”.
拉加德表示：“由於過於疲弱的增長持續了太久，太多的人根本沒感覺到，”她後來補充稱，經濟上的挫敗感和政治不確定性“導致人們質疑老牌機構和國際規範”。
Ms Lagarde’s comments came at the start of risk-off day in markets. The Stoxx 600 of European equities sank 1.6 per cent in morning trade after the eurozone service sector recorded its slowest rate of growth in more than a year. German Bund yields dropped below 10 basis points to touch a 12-month low.
拉加德發表此言之際，市場迎來一個避險情緒佔上風的交易日。在歐元區服務業錄得一年多來最疲弱增長後，歐洲股指斯托克600指數(Stoxx 600)早盤下跌1.6%。德國國債收益率跌破0.1%，觸及12個月來的低點。
The IMF chief called on the US to raise the federal minimum wage, expand earned income tax and strengthen family-friendly benefits. The eurozone needed to unveil better training and employment-matching policies to tackle an unemployment rate that remains in double figures. Commodity exporters and low-income countries should diversify.
拉加德呼籲美國提高聯邦最低工資水平，擴大收入所得稅抵免並增加家庭福利。歐元區需要出臺更好的培訓和就業匹配政策，以解決依然高達兩位數的失業率問題。大宗商品出口國家和低收入國家應該多元化。
However, Ms Lagarde, who last month won a second five-year term at the helm of the IMF, stopped short of reiterating a call for “co-ordinated action” that the fund had made ahead of a recent G20 finance ministers’ meeting in China and which her top deputy, David Lipton, had stressed just a few weeks ago. That call was rejected by some in the G20, including Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, as too alarmist.
然而，上月獲得IMF總裁第二個五年任期的拉加德沒有再呼籲“協同行動”。IMF最近在中國舉行的20國集團(G20)財長會議上曾經這樣呼籲，而且IMF第一副總裁戴維•利普頓(David Lipton)數週前還強調過這一點。在G20會議上，德國財長沃爾夫岡•朔伊布勒(Wolfgang Schäuble)等人對這一呼籲不以爲然，稱其過於危言聳聽。
Ms Lagarde backed the US Federal Reserve, and said the decision to raise rates in December “remained appropriate”. She also supported the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank in deploying negative interest rates.
拉加德支持美聯儲(Fed)，並表示去年12月的加息“依然是合適的”。她還支持日本央行(BoJ)和歐洲央行(ECB)出臺負利率的決定。
