2020年经济学人 印度银行——延期偿付(1)

Soon after India went into a strict lockdown in March, its central bank allowed borrowers to put off loan repayments¹ for three months.

三月，印度实施严格封锁不久后，其中央银行允许借款方将偿还借款期限延迟三个月。

That moratorium² has since been extended by a further three months, and another extension is reportedly being considered.

后来延期偿付又延长了3个月，据报正在考虑再次延长。

It appears to have been a boon³ to borrowers. But top financiers, such as Deepak Parekh, the chairman of HDFC, a big mortgage lender,

这对借款方来说似乎是一件好事。但像大型抵押贷款机构HDFC的主席Deepak Parekh以及

and Uday Kotak, the chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank, are beginning to worry that it is damaging the financial system.

科塔克马亨德拉银行总裁Uday Kotak这样的顶级金融家则开始担心，这么做会损害金融体系。

They are urging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank, to change course.

他们敦促央行印度储备银行（RBI）改变策略。

The moratorium was intended to prevent the cash crunch⁴ induced by lockdowns translating into a more lasting⁵ shock,

延期偿付的目的是防止因封锁导致的现金危机转变成一场更加持久的冲击，

by allowing revenue-starved companies time to pay back their debts. India has not been alone in using payment holidays,

让缺乏储备的公司有时间偿还他们的债务。印度并不是唯一一个采取延期偿付措施的国家，

though those in other countries have tended to be more limited in duration and scope.

尽管在其他国家，这些措施对持续时间和范围的限制往往更多。

But India's government is less able than those in the rich world to afford other ways of supporting borrowers, such as generous cash handouts⁶.

但印度政府无法像其他富裕国家那样负担得起其他支撑借款方的方式，如慷慨的现金补贴。

Huge numbers of borrowers have availed themselves of the payment holiday.

大量贷款方都申请了这一还款豁免期。

In its financial-stability report, published on July 24th, the RBI noted⁷ that half of all loans went unpaid⁸ in April.

在7月24日发布的金融稳定报告中，RBI指出，4月份有一半的贷款没有偿还。

Fully⁹ twothirds of loans made by publicly controlled banks, which hold 70% of the industry's assets, were unpaid.

国有银行持有金融业70%的资产，其中整整三分之二的贷款没有偿还。

A smaller yet sizeable chunk¹⁰ of lending went unpaid at private banks, from a third of total loans at domestic lenders to a tenth at foreign ones.

私人银行拖欠的贷款比例较小，从国内银行贷款总额的三分之一，到外国银行的十分之一。

One reason for the disparity between private and public lenders is that different banks attract different sorts of borrowers.

私有和国有银行之间差距的原因之一是，不同银行吸引着不同类型的借款方。

Small and medium-sized firms, which rely on state-run lenders, were keen users of the moratorium.

依赖国有银行的中小型企业是延期偿付的热心用户。

These are unlikely to have huge cash buffers¹¹; as revenues dried up they may have had little recourse but to defer¹² loan payments.

他们不可能有大量现金缓冲；随着收入枯竭，他们可能没有什么追索权，只能延期支付贷款。

By contrast, foreign banks mainly serve multinational¹³ companies with deeper pockets.

相比之下，外资银行主要服务于财力雄厚的跨国公司。

Some banks asked borrowers to opt¹⁴ in to the scheme.

一些银行要求借款方选择加入该方案。

Others at first employed a more generous "opt-out" approach, though they have since changed tack¹⁵.

起初其他银行采取了更加宽容的“选择不参与”方案，尽管后来他们改变了策略。

1 repayments   

偿还，报答，偿付的钱物( repayment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The repayments of the loan are spread over 10 years. 贷款可在十年内分期偿还。
• The repayments of the loan are spread over 25 years. 这笔贷款分摊二十五年偿还。

2 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

3 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

4 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

5 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

6 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

11 buffers   

起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头

参考例句：

• To allocate and schedule the use of buffers. 分配和计划缓冲器的使用。
• Number of times the stream has paused due to insufficient stream buffers. 由于流缓冲区不足导致流程暂停的次数。

12 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

13 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

14 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

15 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。