普京提醒俄羅斯人要進一步勒緊褲腰帶
Vladimir Putin has put Russians on notice for a long winter, warning of extended economic weakness and the need for further belt-tightening.
俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾渠京(Vladimir Putin)提醒俄羅斯人準備度過一個漫長的冬天，他警告稱，俄羅斯的經濟疲軟仍將持續一段時間，人們需要進一步勒緊褲腰帶。
“The Russian economy has passed the peak of the crisis — not the crisis, but the peak of the crisis,” Mr Putin told hundreds of reporters on Thursday, in a marked departure from his earlier insistence that the country — while facing difficulties — was not in crisis.
普京週四對數百名記者表示：“俄羅斯經濟已經度過了危機的高峯期——不是度過了危機，而是度過了危機的高峯期。”這一言論明顯有別於他此前堅持的說法，即俄羅斯雖然面臨着困難，但並沒有陷入危機。
The Russian president delivered his assessment during a wide-ranging, end-of-year press conference that featured a burst of admiration for Donald Trump and another slap at Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
普京在這次年度記者會上對諸多領域的問題發表了評論。值得一提的是，他對唐納德礠朗普(Donald Trump)大加讚賞，對土耳其總統雷傑普吠伊普埃爾多安(Recep Tayyip Erdogan)則又作了番嘲諷。
Calling the Republican presidential hopeful “flamboyant” and “very talented”, Mr Putin said of Mr Trump: “He is an absolute leader of the presidential race as we see it today. He says he wants to take relations with Russia to another level, a more thorough level. How can we not welcome that?”
普京稱特朗普“光彩奪目”且“很有才華”。他在提及這位共和黨總統候選人時表示：“在我們當前看到的這場總統競選中，他處於絕對領先地位。他說他想將美俄關係帶入另一個層次，一個更加深入的層次。我們怎麼可能不歡迎這樣的提議？”
By contrast, he escalated a brawl with Mr Erdogan begun last month when the Turkish military shot down a Russian bomber at the border with Syria.
與之形成對比的是，他用更高的調門抨擊了埃爾多安。上月，土耳其軍方在土敘邊境擊落了一架俄羅斯戰鬥轟炸機，兩國領導人因此爆發口角。
“In the past Turkey still flew there and violated Syrian airspace all the time, now let them try to fly there!” he threatened, mentioning Russia’s recent deployment of S-400 air defence systems to Syria. “If someone in the Turkish leadership decided to kiss the Americans on a certain body part — I don’t know if they succeeded,” he added, noting that he saw no hope for repairing relations with the government in Ankara.
普京威脅道：“過去，土耳其的飛機仍會飛到那兒、不斷侵犯敘利亞領空，現在他們再飛到那兒試試！”他這裏指的是俄近期在敘利亞部署了S-400防空系統。普京表示：“如果土耳其的某個領導人決定要親吻美國人身上的某個部位，我不知道他是否能成功。”普京指出，他看不到任何與土耳其政府修復關係的希望。
Mr Putin also offered a surprise admission that Russian special forces had been in eastern Ukraine, telling a Ukrainian journalist: “We never said that there are no people who deal with the resolution of certain problems there, including in the military sphere, but that doesn’t mean that there are regular Russian troops there. Feel the difference.”
普京還令人意外地承認，俄特種部隊曾進入烏克蘭東部。他對烏克蘭記者說：“我們從沒說過沒人去那裏努力解決特定的問題，包括軍事領域的，但這並不意味着那裏有俄羅斯正規軍。體會下其中的差異吧。”
But apart from these digressions, the Russian leader kept the agenda focused on economic matters. The news was mostly bad.
不過，除了這些題外話，普京始終還是把議程的重點放在了經濟事務上。在這方面，他給出的信息大多比較令人鬱悶。
The government’s budget for next year, adopted by parliament only at the beginning of this month, would need to be adjusted to reflect the latest drop in oil prices, he warned.
俄羅斯國會在本月初才通過了政府明年的財政預算，而普京卻警告說，這份預算需要調整，以反映油價的最新下跌。
“We calculated the budget for next year from these figures. That is a very optimistic assessment — $50 per barrel. But where does it stand now already — $38? Therefore, we will probably be forced to correct something here,” Mr Putin said.
他說：“我們是基於這樣的數字編制明年的預算的，這是一個非常樂觀的估算數字，每桶50美。但現在油價已到了多少，每桶38美元？因此，我們很可能要被迫作些調整。”
Reversing a longstanding refusal to consider raising the country’s pension age, Mr Putin said: “If we don’t react, the inflows of the pension system will shrink. There is already a deficit in the pension system, and we need to refinance that deficit from the budget. Decisions have to be taken in due course to ensure that we don’t destroy the pension system in five, 10 or 15 years.”
普京長期以來一直拒絕考慮提高俄羅斯養老金的領取年齡，他這次轉變立場稱：“如果我們不採取應對措施，養老金體系的資金流入將會萎縮。目前養老金體系已然存在赤字，我們需要從預算中找錢來填補這一赤字。我們必須在適當的時候作出決策，以確保我們不會在未來5年、10年或15年毀掉養老金體系。”
The remarks follow frequent warnings from economic advisers such as Alexei Kudrin, the former finance minister, who said a stagnating population and dwindling economic growth means Moscow needs to address pension and other long-delayed structural reforms.
在普京發表這些言論前，包括俄羅斯前財長阿列克謝錠德林(Alexei Kudrin)在內的經濟顧問已頻繁發出警告。庫德林曾表示，俄羅斯增長陷於停滯的人口和不斷下滑的經濟增長意味着，俄政府必須着手實施養老金改革和其他拖延已久的結構性改革。
Hit by sliding oil prices and western sanctions, Russia’s economy is forecast to contract 3.7 per cent this year. While the slide in industrial production and investment is slowing, the drop in retail sales extended to minus 13.1 per cent last month, according to data published on Thursday.
在油價下滑和西方制裁的打擊下，今年俄經濟預計會萎縮3.7%。根據週四發佈的數據，儘管工業生產和投資的下滑正在放緩，但零售額的下滑幅度卻在上月擴大至13.1%。
Although the government expects gross domestic product to return to 0.7 growth in 2016, the central bank has said the country has the potential to grow little more than 2 per cent a year in the medium term. Real household incomes are expected to fall at least 5 per cent this year — the first such drop in Mr Putin’s 16 years in power.
今年，俄羅斯實際家庭收入預計會下降至少5%——這是普京掌權的16年裏首次出現如此幅度的下降。
While Mr Putin’s support ratings continue to stand at record highs above 80 per cent, polls reflect deepening dissatisfaction over the economy. In a rare sign of open discontent, truck drivers from several Russian regions have been protesting against a new electronic toll system for more than six weeks.
普京的支持率仍高於80%，處於創紀錄高點，但民調結果顯示，俄民衆對俄經濟形勢的不滿正在加深。6周多來，俄多個地區的卡車司機一直在抗議新的電子收費系統，這是一個罕見的、俄民衆公開表達不滿的跡象。
Mr Putin addressed their concerns on Thursday but offered little relief. He insisted that heavy trucks must pay for road usage to help finance infrastructure investment, and force small transport entrepreneurs out of the grey economy. “But we must help them,” he said, adding that the government might abolish an existing transport tax to reduce the sector’s financial burden.
週四，普京針對這些人的顧慮作了迴應，但沒有給他們帶來多少安慰。普京堅稱，重型卡車必須支付道路使用費，以幫助籌措基礎建設投資所需的資金，並將小型運輸企業擠出這一灰色經濟。“但我們必須幫助他們，”普京表示。他還說，俄政府可能會廢除現有的運輸稅，以減輕該行業的經濟負擔。
In keeping with the sober mood, Mr Putin cut down on the banter with journalists from far-flung regions that had become the event’s trademark. A session that once sprawled to a record 4.5 hours was wrapped up in a mere three.
在以往的年度記者會上，普京會與來自五湖四海的記者打趣，這已成爲這項活動的標誌。爲確保本次記者會處於一種嚴肅的氛圍下，普京減少了與記者間的打趣。這個以往曾拖沓到創紀錄的4個半小時的記者會，這次只耗時3小時就結束了。
Still, Mr Putin indulged their questions about Mr Trump and other colourful personalities. Ever the provocateur, he volunteered that embattled Fifa chief Sepp Blatter should be given the Nobel Prize as “his contribution to the global humanitarian sphere is colossal”.
不過，普京仍然如記者們所願回答了他們提出的有關特朗普和其他形形色色的人物的問題。一向不怕惹事的普京，還主動提議應授予陷入麻煩的國際足聯(Fifa)主席塞普布拉特(Sepp Blatter)諾貝爾獎(Nobel Prize)，理由是“他對全球人道主義領域作出了巨大的貢獻”。
