中國收緊資本管制 遏制資本外流
China has tightened its capital controls, in a sharp reversal of its market liberalising rhetoric, as it struggles to contain the fallout from last month’s devaluation of the renminbi.
中國已採取措施收緊資本管制，此舉標誌着官方的市場自由化言論發生急劇逆轉。目前中國正艱難圍堵上月人民幣貶值的餘波。
The August 11 devaluation unleashed turmoil on global stock markets and policy confusion at home, forcing the central bank to spend as much as $200bn to support the renminbi. The prospect of an interest rate rise in the US has further encouraged capital flight.
8月11日的貶值引發全球股市動盪，並在國內造成政策困惑，迫使中國央行支出多達2000億美元支持人民幣。美國加息的前景進一步鼓勵了資本外流。
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the unit of the central bank in charge of managing China’s currency, has in recent days ordered financial institutions to step up checks and strengthen controls on all foreign exchange transactions, according to people familiar with the matter and an official memo seen by the Financial Times.
根據幾名知情人士的說法和英國《金融時報》看到的一份官方通知，隸屬中國央行、負責管理中國外匯的國家外匯管理局(SAFE)近日責令各金融機構加強對所有外匯交易的檢查和管制。
Safe has ordered banks and financial institutions to pay particular attention to the practice of over-invoicing exports, used to disguise large capital outflows. Safe confirmed the existence of the memo, but declined to comment further.
國家外管局責令銀行和金融機構要特別留意高報出口的做法，這種做法被用來掩蓋大筆資本外流。該局證實上述通知的存在，但拒絕進一步置評。
China has long imposed limits on the amount of foreign exchange that can be bought or sold by individuals and companies but those controls have broken down somewhat in recent years as the renminbi has become more widely used around the world.
中國長期對個人和企業可以購買或出售的外匯金額實行限制，但隨着人民幣在世界各地得到更爲廣泛的使用，這些管制近年在一定程度上失效。
Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS, said the government had been expected to tighten some FX controls. But relying on them exclusively to protect the renminbi “will not be viable over the long term and hence is unlikely to be pursued by China’s central bank for long”, she added.
瑞銀(UBS)首席中國經濟學家汪濤表示，外界早就預期政府會收緊某些外匯管制。但她補充說，僅僅依賴這些管制來捍衛人民幣“不是長久之計，因而中國央行不會長期實行這些管制”。
The policy reversal comes after China’s central bank drew heavily on its vast foreign exchange reserves to prevent the renminbi falling dramatically against the dollar in the wake of the technical devaluation last month. Although still the largest in the world, its reserves fell by the biggest amount on record in August, dropping $94bn to around $3.56tn.
這項政策逆轉出臺之前，中國央行大舉動用其龐大的外匯儲備，以防止上月技術性貶值後人民幣兌美元匯率大幅下滑。雖然中國的外匯儲備仍是全球最大的，但8月份出現有記錄以來最大數額的縮水，減少940億美元，至3.56萬億美元。
For the first time since it began internationalising its currency a few years ago, the central bank has also been intervening heavily in the offshore renminbi market to narrow the gap between the onshore (CNY) and offshore (CNH) exchange rates.
自幾年前開始推動人民幣國際化以來，中國央行還首次大舉干預離岸人民幣市場，以縮小在岸人民幣(CNY)與離岸人民幣(CNH)匯率之間的差距。
Analysts and people familiar with the matter say Beijing has spent up to $200bn defending the currency but the net impact on the reserves is disguised by fluctuating valuations of reserve assets and other inflows into the reserves.
分析師和知情人士透露，北京方面已投入多達2000億美元捍衛人民幣，但外匯儲備所受的淨影響被各種因素掩蓋，包括儲備資產的估值變動和流入儲備的其他資金。
“They have gone from a credible peg that cost them almost nothing to a weak peg that nobody believes and that is costing them more than $10bn a day to defend — they’re paying huge sums for something they had for free just a few weeks ago,” said one person with close ties to China’s central bank.
“他們從一個幾乎不用花錢的可信的盯住匯率，淪爲一個沒人相信的疲弱盯住匯率，每天要動用超過100億美元捍衛——他們正爲幾周前還免費擁有的東西付出高額代價，”與中國央行關係密切的一位人士表示。
