G20 bid to cut cost of borrowing in eurozone

Address: http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001045136/ce

Eurozone members of the Group of 20 leading economies will commit to driving down borrowing costs across the single currency area, according to a leaked draft of the communiqué at the Mexico summit yesterday.

20国集团(G20)墨西哥峰会昨日泄露的一份公报草案显示，G20中的欧元区成员国将承诺压低整个单一货币区域的借款成本。

On the day that Spain was forced to pay more than 5 per cent to borrow money for one year, the need for action to stem the spiral of rising government bond yields was accepted by Germany, France and Italy, the G20’s three eurozone members.

在西班牙被迫为一年期贷款支付逾5%利息的当天，G20中的三个欧元区成员国德国、法国和意大利承认，有必要采取措施阻止国债收益率螺旋式上升。

According to officials briefed on the talks, Mario Monti, Italy’s prime minister, raised the possibility of using the eurozone’s €440bn rescue fund to buy peripheral bonds on the open market. But Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, was non-committal about the idea during a formal session on Monday night.

了解商谈情况的官员们表示，意大利总理马里奥•蒙蒂(Mario Monti)提出了使用欧元区4400亿欧元纾困基金在公开市场上购买欧元区外围国家债券的可能性。但德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)在周一晚间的正式会议上对这个构想不置可否。

However, officials said Ms Merkel had subsequent conversations on the sidelines of the summit which led her interlocutors to believe “she may be willing to do more”, said one European official. But the official cautioned that Ms Merkel was not yet ready to commit to any definite course of action.

然而，一名欧洲官员表示，默克尔随后在峰会间隙的谈话令对方相信“她可能愿意采取更多行动”。但这位官员告诫称，默克尔还未准备承诺任何具体的行动步骤。

Speaking to journalists before he started the second day of negotiations, François Hollande, France’s president, said the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy were unacceptable. “We must show a much faster ability to intervene,” he added.

法国总统弗朗索瓦•奥朗德(François Hollande)在开始第二日的谈判之前向记者们表示，西班牙和意大利的借款成本是不可接受的。他补充称：“我们必须展示更快干预的能力。”

George Osborne, UK chancellor of the exchequer, said: “I think there are signs that the eurozone are moving towards richer countries standing behind their banks and standing behind the weaker countries.”

英国财政大臣乔治•奥斯本(George Osborne)表示：“我认为有迹象表明，欧元区正出现较富裕国家支持银行以及较弱国家的局面。”

The draft communiqué does not mention specific action to be taken by eurozone countries, but aims to cut borrowing costs for countries such as Spain and Italy. It says recent eurozone policies, such as the fiscal compact and growth-enhancing measures, are “important steps towards greater fiscal and economic integration that lead to sustainable borrowing costs”.

公报草案没有提及欧元区国家要采取什么具体措施，只是表明目标是降低西班牙和意大利等国家的借款成本。草案称，欧元区最近出台的财政协定和促增长举措等政策是“加深财政和经济一体化程度，从而实现可持续借款成本的重要步骤”。

Mr Hollande said: “It’s not acceptable that Spain, which just got a promise for support, has interest rates around 7 per cent”.

奥朗德表示：“刚刚获得支持承诺的西班牙的国债利率达到7%左右是不可接受的。”

The European Financial Stability Facility, the eurozone’s rescue fund, was last year given the power to purchase sovereign bonds of struggling countries on the open market, a power previously reserved for the European Central Bank. Together with the European Stability Mechanism, expected to be established next month, the two funds command about €500bn firepower.

欧元区纾困基金欧洲金融稳定安排(EFSF)去年获得授权，可在公开市场购买陷入困境的欧元区成员国的国债。此前只有欧洲央行(ECB)才有权力这么做。加上预计下月创建的欧洲稳定机制(ESM)，这两个基金拥有大约5000亿欧元的火力。

The ECB bought €210bn of sovereign debt last year.

欧洲央行去年购买了2100亿欧元的主权债务。

The draft communiqué commits eurozone countries to “take all necessary measures to safeguard the integrity and stability of the area, improve the functioning of financial markets and break the feedback loop between sovereigns and banks”.

公报草案要求欧元区国家“采取所有必要措施捍卫欧元区的完整和稳定，促进金融市场的正常运转，并打破主权债务与银行债务之间的反馈回路”。