2016年经济学人 非洲商业 让非洲发展起来(上)

 

Leaders Business in Africa Making Africa work

社论精粹 非洲商业 让非洲发展起来

The continent's future depends on people, not commodities

非洲的前途依赖人，而非大宗商品

“IS ANYONE here actually hoping to make any money, or are you all just trying to minimise your losses?”

“在座的有没有任何人希望能赚到钱，还是大家都只是想把损失降到最低？”

The question, asked at a dinner in London for investors¹ who specialise in Africa, showed how the mood has changed in the past year.

这个问题在伦敦一个为专事非洲投资的投资者举办的晚餐会上提出来，体现出过去一年的情绪变化。

The financiers around the table—mostly holders² of African bonds—all said they were simply trying not to lose money.

在座的各位金融家大部分手中都持有非洲债券，他们都说自己只是想不要亏钱。

Only a few years ago people were queuing up to invest in Africa.

然而仅仅在几年前，大家都还挤破头要在非洲投资。

As recently as 2012 Zambia paid less than Spain to borrow dollars.

就在2012年，赞比亚美元贷款的利息比西班牙还低。

Private-equity funds dedicated³ to Africa raised record sums to invest in shopping malls and firms making everything from nappies to fruit juice.

专注投资非洲的私募股权基金筹得破纪录的资金用于投资购物中心和企业，这些公司生产的产品从尿片到果汁一应俱全。

Business folk salivated at the prospect⁴ of selling to the fast-growing African middle class, which by one measure numbered 350m people.

非洲的中产阶级正在快速成长，一项数据显示其人数可达3.5亿，商界人士一想到这些人是他们未来的销售对象便垂涎三尺。

Miners sank billions into African soil to feed China's appetite for minerals.

矿产公司也向非洲的土地中砸入数十亿美元以满足中国对矿产资源的需求。

Now investors are glum⁵. In the short run, they are right to worry.

但现在投资者们个个愁容满面。

In the long run, as our special report on African business shows this week, the potential rewards from a market of 1.2 billion people are too juicy to ignore, despite the risks.

短期来看，他们确实有理由担心。长期来说，我们本周对非洲经济的特别报道显示，这个有着12亿人口的市场潜在回报巨大不容忽视，尽管风险也不小。

From oil in the gears to sand in the wheels

从一路顺风到磕磕绊绊

For decades, sentiment about Africa has followed commodity prices, rising and falling like a bungee-jumper at Victoria Falls.

数十年来，对非洲的投资情绪一直随大宗商品价格波动，如同在维多利亚瀑布蹦极跳一样忽上忽下。

The recent plunge⁶ has caused a 16% drop in sub-Saharan Africa's terms of trade (the ratio of the price of its exports to that of its imports).

最近大宗商品价格大跌已令撒哈拉以南非洲的贸易比率（出口商品与进口商品价格的相对价格比率）下降了16%。

Growth across the region will slow to about 3% this year, predicts the World Bank, down from 7-8% a decade ago. That is barely ahead of population growth of 2.7%.

世界银行估计整个地区今年的经济增长将会从十年前的7%到8%放缓至3%，勉强高于2.7%的人口增幅。

Nigeria and Angola, two big oil exporters, will probably need bail-outs from the IMF within a year.

石油出口大国尼日利亚和安哥拉恐怕年内就会需要IMF的紧急救助。

Yet Afro-pessimists should remember two things about commodity busts⁷.

然而对非洲持悲观情绪的人们就大宗商品价格大跌的问题需要记住两点：

They don't last for ever. And they don't hurt everyone:

第一，价格不会永远下跌；第二，不是所有人都从中受害。

17 African countries with a quarter of the region's population will show a net benefit from the current one, thanks to cheaper energy.

由于能源价格低廉，非洲有17个国家（占非洲总人口四分之一）将会在这一轮大跌的情况下获得净收益。

More important, by focusing on the minerals markets it is easy to miss some big trends that are happening above ground—and these are mostly positive.

更为重要的是，过于关注矿产品市场会容易忽略矿产行业以外的一些大趋势—而这些趋势多数都令人乐观。

The first is that Africa is far more peaceful than it was even a decade ago.

首先，非洲要比十年前太平多了。

The wars that ripped apart the Democratic Republic of Congo and sucked in its neighbours, causing millions of deaths, have largely been quelled⁸. A few states, such as Somalia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, are in chaos⁹.

内战曾一度令刚果民主共和国四分五裂，且波及多个邻国，令数百万人丧生。如今，战火已基本平息。

But overall the risk of dying violently in Africa has tumbled.

还有一些国家，如索马里、南苏丹和中非共和国，仍然处于混乱之中。

The latest ranking of the world's most violent countries by the Geneva Declaration includes just two African states (tiny Lesotho and Swaziland) among its top ten.

但总体来说在非洲死于暴乱的危险已大为降低。《日内瓦宣言》最近列出的十个暴力情况最为严重的国家中，只有两个是非洲国家（小国莱索托和斯威士兰）。

Africa is also far more democratic than it was.

其二，非洲如今也更为民主了。

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, only one sub-Saharan government was peacefully voted out of office.

在上世纪六十、七十和八十年代，在撒哈拉以南非洲只有一个政府通过投票和平下台。

Now nearly all face regular elections, which are harder to rig thanks to social media. Voters have real choices—one reason why policies have improved.

现在几乎各国都会定期选举，而且在社交媒体的监督下，操纵选举愈发困难。选民们有了真正的选择—这也是政策有所改善的一个重要原因。

Old-style governments favoured nationalisation, printing money and (in some cases) rounding peasants up at gunpoint and forcing them onto collective farms.

老派的政府喜欢国有化、印制钞票和（在有些情况下）用枪杆逼着农民加入集体农场。

1 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

2 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。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 glum   

adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的

参考例句：

• He was a charming mixture of glum and glee.他是一个很有魅力的人，时而忧伤时而欢笑。
• She laughed at his glum face.她嘲笑他闷闷不乐的脸。

6 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

7 busts   

半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕

参考例句：

• Dey bags swells up and busts. 那奶袋快胀破了。
• Marble busts all looked like a cemetery. 大理石的半身象，简直就象是坟山。

8 quelled   

v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thanks to Kao Sung-nien's skill, the turmoil had been quelled. 亏高松年有本领，弹压下去。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• Mr. Atkinson was duly quelled. 阿特金森先生被及时地将了一军。 来自辞典例句

9 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。