欧洲央行推出强力措施刺激欧元区经济

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.

法兰克福——周四，欧洲中央银行(European Central Bank)采取了一系列出人意料的激进措施，包括相当于出钱让银行放贷，以刺激疲软的欧元区经济。

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.

正如外界预料的那样，欧洲央行加大了对银行把钱存放在其虚拟金库里的惩罚力度。与此同时，该行还表示，将按一项协议的规定，向商业银行提供四年期贷款。这些贷款将向银行支付其发放给企业和消费者的贷款产生的利息。此举令分析人士和投资者大感意外。

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.

这些行动远远超出了分析人士此前的预期。它们是一项越来越紧迫的行动的一部分。欧洲央行试图通过该行动大力提振欧元区经济，并防止出现物价的破坏性下跌，即通货紧缩。

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

但这些举措并非没有风险。它们会让欧洲央行在所谓的负利率这个相对而言属于未知的领域陷得更深。

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.

欧洲央行还表示将把每月购买政府债券和其他资产的规模从600亿欧元扩大到800亿欧元。该行还将开始购买企业债券，将其作为资产购买行动的一部分。对欧元区来说，这又是一项史无前例的举动。

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.

这些举措的宣布促使欧元兑美元汇率立即大幅下跌。而这对欧洲出口商有利。与此同时，股市上涨。但力度超出预期的行动也可能会被当做一个迹象，表明欧洲央行比分析人士以为的更担心通货紧缩风险。

“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.

“这完全是欧洲央行使出浑身解数解决这个问题的标志，”安本资产管理(Aberdeen Asset Management)投资经理帕特里克·奥唐奈(Patrick O’Donnell)在一份声明中表示。

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.

在新闻发布会上，欧洲央行行长马里奥·德拉吉(Mario Draghi)称这些措施是一项“全面方案”，意在刺激通货膨胀和欧元区经济。

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.

正常情况下，商业银行会从存放在欧洲央行的资金赚取利息。但从2014年6月开始，欧洲央行开始对存款实行负利率。这实际上是对银行此种做法的惩罚。

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.

周四当天，该行先是宣布将把存款利率——商业银行存放在该行的财产的利率——从目前的-0.3%进一步下调至-0.4%。一些分析人士本来预计下调幅度会更大，以为会降到-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.

这些举动标志着欧洲央行对欧元区经济有一种紧迫感。尽管该行迄今已出台多项刺激措施，但一年多以来，欧元区19个国家的通货膨胀率一直徘徊在零附近或以下。官方数据显示，2月，曾经略高于零的通货膨胀率为-0.2%。物价下跌是经济疲软的一个征兆，而物价全面持续下跌则可能会削弱企业利润，导致失业。

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.

消费者因为预计会降价而推迟购买，由此产生通货紧缩，形成一个价格和需求不断下降的循环。因为欧元区零售总额一直在小幅增加，所以严格来说通货紧缩尚未开始。但政策制定者担心它可能会到来。他们知道，通货紧缩这种削弱经济的情况是种顽疾。

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

重新让通货膨胀加速是欧洲央行的主要政策目标之一。

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.

在努力推动通货膨胀回到接近但不到2%的官方目标时，德拉吉和他在欧洲央行管理委员会(Governing Council)的同事不得不探索货币政策的新前沿。自2013年以来，欧洲央行一直未能实现这个目标。

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.

负利率推翻了有关金融体系运行方式的很多假设。在欧元区，负利率趋势造成了其他资产，如德国政府债券陷入了负利率，最近甚至商业债务人发行的债券也陷入了负利率。购买这类债券的投资者，实际是愿意支付费用，把资金存放在一个他们认为安全的地方。欧元区以外的一些国家，包括丹麦和瑞士也实行了负利率。

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.

周二，德国柏林房地产融资银行(Berlin Hyp)以负0.162%的利率发行了5亿英镑债券。该银行称，对这些债券的需求是发行额的三倍，主要来自其他银行。

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.

对于欧洲央行的措施是否起到了帮助作用，经济专家之间存在相当大的争议。这些举措也存在风险。比如，负利率可能会削弱银行利润，而很多银行眼下正在艰难应对坏账和其他不良资产。

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.

几乎就是在一年前，欧洲央行开欧元区之先河，开始购买政府债券和其他资产。该计划本质上就是大印钞票，以期刺激欧元区经济。而欧元区经济尚未从2008年的全球金融危机中完全恢复过来。

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.

该印钞计划又叫量化宽松，帮助维持了欧元对美元的弱势地位。这有利于欧洲出口商。德拉吉称此举降低了银行放贷的难度。

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.

牛津经济顾问公司(Oxford Economics)的经济师们在一份报告中表示，不管新措施的潜在隐患是什么，“现在做的太多的风险可能低于做的太少”。