VOA常速英语2013--马里: 新政府必须发展经济（在线收听）

Malians: New Government Must Jumpstart Economy 马里新政府必须发展经济

BAMAKO, MALI — Ibrahim Boubacar Keita became Mali's president-elect after his rival conceded defeat in the August 11 run-off. The successful vote means that billions of dollars of pledged international aid should soon be on their way to help rebuild the country. In 2012, the economy hit its first slump in two decades after a military coup and Islamist takeover of the north plunged the country into crisis.

Business owners in capital city Bamako say the new government can not get to work fast enough.

The Kone family imports and sells cement. It's a family business: father and son, husband and wife. The son, Souleymane Kone, said the March 2012 military coup cut business in half almost immediately.

这是个家族企业：父亲和儿子，丈夫和妻子。儿子Souleymane Kone说，2012年3月的军事政变使得生意一下子减少了近一半。

"The investors pulled out. So all the big construction jobs were halted," he said. "And on the local level, those with money are not spending it."

“投资者走了，所有的大型建设就停止了。在当地，有钱的人根本没把钱花出去。”

His father, Abdoul Kader, said things are looking up.

父亲Abdoul Kader说事情在好转。

"Work is going to start again and things will get better," he said. "I am so happy that despite the crisis, the election went well and the candidates kept the tension down."

Mali's economy had been on a slow but steady ascent since the 1990s. It declined for the first time in 2012 - a contraction of 1.2 percent.

“生意又开始了，情况在好转。我很高兴即使在危机中，选举还是顺利进行，候选人使得紧张局面缓和了下去。”自20世纪90年代以来，马里的经济虽缓慢却稳步发展，2012年出现首次下滑，放缓了1.2%。

That wasn't as bad as it could have been. The gold and cotton sectors in the south were relatively untouched, but tourism took a major hit. And the occupation of the north hurt trade and agriculture, heightening chronic food shortages. Farming, fishing and forestry are nearly half of Mali's gross domestic product.

情况本来可以更糟，南部的金、棉花行业相对没有受到影响，但旅游业遭受重创。北部被占领使得贸易和农业受损，导致长期的粮食短缺。农业、渔业和森林业占马里国内生产总值的近一半。

Economist Younoussa Maiga said an influx of foreign aid will help, but this new government also must attract investors. And to do that, it must tackle pervasive corruption.

经济学家Younoussa Maiga说外国援助的流入能起到作用，但新政府必须吸引投资者。为此，新政府必须解决普遍存在的腐败问题。

"This corruption, it's government agents embezzling state resources. It's small-time - you've got traffic police taking a few dollars from drivers all day long. It's people being forced to pay for free public services.  There's large-scale organized corruption when it comes to awarding government contracts and the whole process of spending state funds," Maiga said. "All of this forces business owners to pay when they shouldn't have to."

“腐败问题，政府人员侵吞国有资源。交警每天从司机那里收取几美元，这些是小规模的，人们被迫为免费的公共服务支付费用。还有大规模的有组织腐败，从政府合同和政府资金开支中获得利益。所有这些迫使企业主支付原不该支付的费用。”

For now, shopowners around Bamako, like Adama Mariko, say they are just trying to hang on.

目前，巴马科像Adama Mariko这样的店主们都说必须再坚持下去。

"I'm here the whole day and I sell nothing," Mariko said.

“一整天了什么都没卖出去。”

Still, the shelves of the electronics shop are mostly empty.

电器商店的货架上几乎还是空的。

"No one outside the country would give credit to Malian merchants because with the war and the rebellion, nobody knew we'd be there to repay. And you can't do business without credit," said Mariko.

“因为战争和叛乱，国外没人给马里商人提供信贷，没人知道我们需要偿还债务。没有信贷就没办法做生意。”

Job creation is a major priority. Work is scarce for the 300,000 young people who hit the job market every year. Economists say presidents don't create jobs, though, investment and economic growth do. 

创造就业是个重要问题，每年有30万年轻人进入就业市场，但岗位稀少。经济学家说虽然总统不能创造就业，但投资和经济发展却可以。