美国国家公共电台 NPR--The IMF is expecting a challenging time ahead amid signs of a global slowdown

The IMF is expecting a challenging time ahead amid signs of a global slowdown

Transcript¹

With signs of a slowdown, it's a tough time for the International Monetary² Fund and its 190 member countries. Planet Money's The Indicator³ explains what the IMF is and what it does.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

The International Monetary Fund - or IMF - is bracing⁴ for a challenging time amid signs of a global slowdown. The organization and its almost 200 member countries have been meeting in Washington this week to address this uncertainty⁵. But what does the IMF do exactly? Adrian Ma and Paddy Hirsch from our daily economics podcast the Indicator explain.

PADDY HIRSCH, BYLINE⁶: The International Monetary Fund is a bit like one of those old pieces of furniture that you've had in your family for ages. You know, it was in your grandma's house. And then it was in your mom's house. And now it's in your house. And it's a great piece, but you don't really know that much about it.

ADRIAN MA, BYLINE: The IMF has been part of the furniture since 1944.

REX GHOSH: Originally, it was a kind of regulatory sort of body that would police the system...

HIRSCH: This is Rex Ghosh. He's the official historian of the IMF.

GHOSH: ...To make sure everyone played by the rules of the game.

MA: The game, of course, was the international financial system. And the IMF was basically given three tasks to sort of police this system. First, it had to monitor the health of member countries. Second, it had to provide training and technical assistance. And finally, it was supposed to lend money to countries when they needed it.

HIRSCH: But the most important role envisioned by the IMF's founders⁷ was the monitoring function. Every year, the IMF visits every one of its member nations. Daniel Bradlow is a professor in the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He says these so-called Article IV visits are a bit like an annual physical.

DANIEL BRADLOW: If you think of it in terms of health, they'd say, maybe you need to change your diet, start exercising more. And that's - improves your health. And that's sort of what the IMF likes to think it's doing.

MA: And to maybe stretch the metaphor⁸ a little more, the money that the IMF gives out is kind of like medicine, the good medicine, that is. But it's contingent⁹ on countries following doctor's orders.

BRADLOW: The IMF is not a project lender. When the IMF gives money to a country, it goes just into the budget of the government. And it can be used for almost any purpose.

HIRSCH: Of course, just like a needy¹⁰ student who gets a big birthday check from an overbearing aunt, if a country wants to come back to the well for more IMF money down the line, it would be well-advised to follow the IMF's policies.

GHOSH: Countries only come to the fund when they have an external deficit¹¹ or debt problem. And so almost by definition, they're going to have to do, if you like, austerity policies.

MA: Basically, we're talking about slashing¹² budgets, yanking subsidies¹³, cutting spending. This philosophy of deploying¹⁴ austerity as a response to economic crises has given the IMF kind of a bad name in the past.

HIRSCH: Austerity isn't the only reason the IMF is a somewhat controversial organization. It's been accused of bias¹⁵, of a lack of transparency, of undermining democracy and of charging interest rates that only exacerbate¹⁶ the troubles of borrower countries. But Daniel says the organization is changing.

BRADLOW: It's recognized that its policies from the 1980s and 1990s has had very devastating¹⁷ and negative effects in many countries, particularly in Africa.

MA: The IMF was designed to keep the global financial system spinning on its axis¹⁸. But you can kind of see why this is kind of a mission impossible. The organization has to make controversial decisions about which of almost 200 member countries it's going to lend to, and how much money they're going to get and under what conditions.

HIRSCH: But it's been 78 years now. The global financial system is still spinning. And the IMF is still part of the furniture. So I guess it must be doing something right.

MA: Adrian Ma.

HIRSCH: Paddy Hirsch, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

3 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

4 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

8 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

9 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

10 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

11 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

12 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

13 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

15 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

16 exacerbate   

v.恶化，增剧，激怒，使加剧

参考例句：

• WMO says a warming climate can exacerbate air pollution.世界气象组织说，气候变暖可能会加剧空气污染。
• In fact efforts will merely exacerbate the current problem.实际上努力只会加剧当前的问题。

17 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

18 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。