2020年经济学人 非洲货币(1)

In 1979 an IMF negotiator met Julius Nyerere, Tanzania's socialist¹ president, and urged him to weaken the country's currency.

1979年，一名IMF谈判代表会见了坦桑尼亚的社会党总统朱利叶斯·尼雷尔，并敦促他削弱该国的货币。

"I will devalue the shilling over my dead body," Nyerere fumed² afterwards.

尼雷尔事后生气的说，“要让先令贬值，除非我死了。”

Over the next decade, many African leaders took similar stands.

在接下来的十年里，许多非洲领导人采取了类似的立场。

But faced with worsening terms of trade and foreign-currency shortages, they eventually let their currencies slide.

但面对不断恶化的贸易条件和外汇短缺，他们最终让本币贬值。

Tanzania bowed to the inevitable³ in 1986, after Nyerere had left office.

1986年，尼雷尔下台后，坦桑尼亚向命运低头。

Most African exchange rates are now about where markets think they should be.

目前，大多数非洲国家的汇率处于市场认为它们应该处于的位置。

Could governments go further? An undervalued currency makes a country's exports cheaper,

政府能更进一步吗？被低估的货币会使一个国家的出口产品更便宜，

and so acts as an implicit⁴ subsidy⁵ to firms that sell abroad.

因此对出口产品的公司来说，这是一种暗补。

That can counterbalance institutional failures, such as the difficulty of enforcing contracts,

这可以抵消制度上的失败，比如执行合同的困难，

which hurt exporters more than they do local businesses—barbers, taxi-drivers and the like.

这对出口商的伤害比对当地企业——理发师、出租车司机等——的伤害更大。

Exposure to world markets also helps companies learn and improve.

接触世界市场也有助于企业学习和提高。

Dani Rodrik of Harvard University argues that governments in developing countries

哈佛大学的丹尼·罗德里克认为发展中国家的政府

should not simply aim for an "equilibrium⁶" exchange rate, as the IMF would urge, but actively⁷ engineer undervaluation.

不应像IMF敦促的那样，简单地以“均衡”汇率为目标，而应积极策划低估价值。

That may entail⁸ measures such as capital controls or reserve accumulation.

这可能需要采取资本管制或储备积累等措施。

Some Asian countries, including China, adopted this strategy as they industrialised.

一些亚洲国家，包括中国，在工业化过程中采取了这一战略。

Empirical studies suggest that undervaluation boosts growth, and more so in poor countries than in rich ones.

经验研究表明，低估促进了经济增长，这一点在贫困国家比在富国更明显。

Strange, then, that those African countries that do manage their currencies are still trying to prop⁹ them up.

奇怪的是，那些管理本国货币的非洲国家仍在努力支撑本国货币。

Nigeria restricts access to foreign exchange to keep the naira strong.

尼日利亚限制外汇交易以保持奈拉的强势。

Ethiopia's drive to become an Asian-style hub for export manufacturing has been hindered by an overvalued birr

埃塞俄比亚想要成为亚洲版出口制造业中心的努力受到了高估比尔的阻碍

(though a new IMF programme could weaken it).

（尽管IMF的新计划可能会削弱它）。

A group of eight mostly francophone west African countries are changing the name of their currency but not, tellingly,

一个由8个以法语为主要语言的西非国家组成的组织正在改变他们货币的名称，

the rate at which it is pegged¹⁰ to the euro. The last devaluation, in 1994, sparked riots.

但并没有改变其与欧元挂钩的汇率。上一次货币贬值发生在1994年，引发了骚乱。

A tendency to keep the currency strong is built into the structure of African economies.

保持货币坚挺是非洲经济结构的内在要求。

1 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

2 fumed   

愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• He fumed with rage because she did not appear. 因为她没出现，所以他大发雷霆。
• He fumed and fretted and did not know what was the matter. 他烦躁，气恼，不知是怎么回事。

3 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

4 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

5 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

6 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

7 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

8 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

9 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

10 pegged   

v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• They pegged their tent down. 他们钉好了账篷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She pegged down the stairs. 她急忙下楼。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》