歐洲央行推出強力措施刺激歐元區經濟

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank took a series of unexpected and radical steps on Thursday to stimulate the sluggish eurozone economy, including effectively paying banks to lend money.

法蘭克福——週四，歐洲中央銀行(European Central Bank)採取了一系列出人意料的激進措施，包括相當於出錢讓銀行放貸，以刺激疲軟的歐元區經濟。

While increasing the penalty it charges banks to store funds in its virtual vaults, as expected, the central bank surprised analysts and investors by saying it would also offer four-year loans to commercial banks under an arrangement that would pay the banks interest on money they lend to businesses and consumers.

正如外界預料的那樣，歐洲央行加大了對銀行把錢存放在其虛擬金庫裏的懲罰力度。與此同時，該行還表示，將按一項協議的規定，向商業銀行提供四年期貸款。這些貸款將向銀行支付其發放給企業和消費者的貸款產生的利息。此舉令分析人士和投資者大感意外。

The actions, which go well beyond what analysts predicted, are part of an increasingly urgent effort by the central bank to give the eurozone economy a decisive shove and to head off the threat of a destructive decline in prices known as deflation.

這些行動遠遠超出了分析人士此前的預期。它們是一項越來越緊迫的行動的一部分。歐洲央行試圖通過該行動大力提振歐元區經濟，並防止出現物價的破壞性下跌，即通貨緊縮。

But the moves are not without risks, taking the central bank further into the relatively uncharted territory of so-called negative interest rates.

但這些舉措並非沒有風險。它們會讓歐洲央行在所謂的負利率這個相對而言屬於未知的領域陷得更深。

The central bank also said it would expand its purchases of government bonds and other assets to 80 billion euros, or about $88 billion, a month from 60 billion. In another unprecedented step for the eurozone, the central bank will also begin buying corporate bonds as part of the asset purchases.

歐洲央行還表示將把每月購買政府債券和其他資產的規模從600億歐元擴大到800億歐元。該行還將開始購買企業債券，將其作爲資產購買行動的一部分。對歐元區來說，這又是一項史無前例的舉動。

The announcement of the moves prompted an immediate plunge in the euro against the dollar, which is good for European exporters, while stocks rose. But the unexpectedly forceful action could also be interpreted as a sign that the European Central Bank is more worried than analysts thought about the risk of deflation.

這些舉措的宣佈促使歐元兌美元匯率立即大幅下跌。而這對歐洲出口商有利。與此同時，股市上漲。但力度超出預期的行動也可能會被當做一個跡象，表明歐洲央行比分析人士以爲的更擔心通貨緊縮風險。

“This has all the hallmarks of the E.C.B. having thrown the kitchen sink at the problem,” Patrick O’Donnell, an investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, said in a statement.

“這完全是歐洲央行使出渾身解數解決這個問題的標誌，”安本資產管理(Aberdeen Asset Management)投資經理帕特里克·奧唐奈(Patrick O’Donnell)在一份聲明中表示。

In a news conference, Mario Draghi, the central bank’s president, called the measures a “comprehensive package” meant to spur inflation and spur the eurozone economy.

在新聞發佈會上，歐洲央行行長馬里奧·德拉吉(Mario Draghi)稱這些措施是一項“全面方案”，意在刺激通貨膨脹和歐元區經濟。

In normal times, commercial banks earn interest on money parked at the central bank. But beginning in June 2014, the European Central Bank began effectively penalizing banks for doing so, charging a negative interest rate on deposits.

正常情況下，商業銀行會從存放在歐洲央行的資金賺取利息。但從2014年6月開始，歐洲央行開始對存款實行負利率。這實際上是對銀行此種做法的懲罰。

In its first step on Thursday, the European Central Bank said it would further cut the deposit rate — the interest on commercial bank’s holdings at the central bank — to minus 0.4 percent. That was down from minus 0.3 percent. Some analysts had expected a bigger cut, to minus 0.5 percent.

週四當天，該行先是宣佈將把存款利率——商業銀行存放在該行的財產的利率——從目前的-0.3%進一步下調至-0.4%。一些分析人士本來預計下調幅度會更大，以爲會降到-0.5%。

The moves signal the central bank’s sense of urgency about the eurozone economy. Despite the bank’s stimulus measures to date, inflation in the 19 countries of the eurozone has been stuck near or below zero for more than a year. The inflation rate, which had been slightly positive, was minus 0.2 percent in February, according to official figures. Falling prices are a symptom of slow growth, while a broad, sustained decline in prices can undercut corporate profits and lead to job losses.

這些舉動標誌着歐洲央行對歐元區經濟有一種緊迫感。儘管該行迄今已出臺多項刺激措施，但一年多以來，歐元區19個國家的通貨膨脹率一直徘徊在零附近或以下。官方數據顯示，2月，曾經略高於零的通貨膨脹率爲-0.2%。物價下跌是經濟疲軟的一個徵兆，而物價全面持續下跌則可能會削弱企業利潤，導致失業。

Deflation occurs when consumers delay purchases in anticipation of lower prices, creating a circle of falling prices and demand. Because retail sales have been growing slightly in the eurozone, deflation has technically not begun. But policy makers fear that it could set in, knowing that deflation is a debilitating condition that is hard to cure.

消費者因爲預計會降價而推遲購買，由此產生通貨緊縮，形成一個價格和需求不斷下降的循環。因爲歐元區零售總額一直在小幅增加，所以嚴格來說通貨緊縮尚未開始。但政策制定者擔心它可能會到來。他們知道，通貨緊縮這種削弱經濟的情況是種頑疾。

Rekindling inflation is one of the central bank’s main policy goals.

重新讓通貨膨脹加速是歐洲央行的主要政策目標之一。

Mr. Draghi and his colleagues on the central bank’s Governing Council have had to explore new frontiers of monetary policy as they try to push inflation back to the official target of close to, but below, 2 percent. It is a goal the central bank has not been able to meet since 2013.

在努力推動通貨膨脹回到接近但不到2%的官方目標時，德拉吉和他在歐洲央行管理委員會(Governing Council)的同事不得不探索貨幣政策的新前沿。自2013年以來，歐洲央行一直未能實現這個目標。

Negative interest rates, which have been adopted in some countries outside the eurozone, including Denmark and Switzerland, have upended many assumptions about how the financial system works. In the eurozone, the trend has led to negative rates on other assets such as German government bonds and recently even some bonds by commercial borrowers. Investors who buy such bonds have in effect been willing to pay to store their money in a place they consider safe.

負利率推翻了有關金融體系運行方式的很多假設。在歐元區，負利率趨勢造成了其他資產，如德國政府債券陷入了負利率，最近甚至商業債務人發行的債券也陷入了負利率。購買這類債券的投資者，實際是願意支付費用，把資金存放在一個他們認爲安全的地方。歐元區以外的一些國家，包括丹麥和瑞士也實行了負利率。

On Tuesday, Berlin Hyp, a German bank, issued 500 million in bonds with a negative interest rate of 0.162 percent. The bank said that demand for the bonds, mostly from other banks, was three times the supply.

週二，德國柏林房地產融資銀行(Berlin Hyp)以負0.162%的利率發行了5億英鎊債券。該銀行稱，對這些債券的需求是發行額的三倍，主要來自其他銀行。

There has been considerable debate among economists about whether the central bank measures have done any good. There are also risks. For example, negative interest rates could hurt bank profits even as many banks are struggling with bad loans or other troubled assets.

對於歐洲央行的措施是否起到了幫助作用，經濟專家之間存在相當大的爭議。這些舉措也存在風險。比如，負利率可能會削弱銀行利潤，而很多銀行眼下正在艱難應對壞賬和其他不良資產。

It was almost exactly a year ago that the European Central Bank set eurozone precedent by buying government bonds and other assets. The program has essentially been one of printing money in hopes of stimulating the eurozone economy, which has yet to recover fully from the global financial crisis of 2008.

幾乎就是在一年前，歐洲央行開歐元區之先河，開始購買政府債券和其他資產。該計劃本質上就是大印鈔票，以期刺激歐元區經濟。而歐元區經濟尚未從2008年的全球金融危機中完全恢復過來。

The money-printing program, known as quantitative easing, has helped keep the euro weak against the dollar, which is good for European exporters. And Mr. Draghi has argued that it has made it easier for banks to lend.

該印鈔計劃又叫量化寬鬆，幫助維持了歐元對美元的弱勢地位。這有利於歐洲出口商。德拉吉稱此舉降低了銀行放貸的難度。

Whatever the potential pitfalls of the new measures, “the risks of doing too much are probably now less than the risks of doing too little,” economists at Oxford Economics said in a report.

牛津經濟顧問公司(Oxford Economics)的經濟師們在一份報告中表示，不管新措施的潛在隱患是什麼，“現在做的太多的風險可能低於做的太少”。