中国央行降准释放流动性

China has eased monetary¹ policy in an effort to boost its slowing economy, barely 48 hours after the G20 warned of over-reliance on central banks to drive global growth.

中国已放松货币政策以求提振放缓中的经济。仅仅两天前，20国集团(G20)就过于依赖央行驱动全球经济增长发出了警告。

The People’s Bank of China announced yesterday it would cut the share of customer deposits banks are required to hold in reserve, injecting a jolt² of liquidity³ into its banking⁴ system. The reduction will unleash⁵ about Rmb690bn ($106bn) into the country’s financial system, according to Financial Times estimates based on central bank data.

中国人民银行(PBoC)昨日宣布，将下调存款准备金率，由此向银行体系注入额外流动性。英国《金融时报》根据央行数据进行的估算显示，此举将向中国金融体系释放约6900亿元人民币（合1060亿美元）。

But economists⁷ warned that the central bank’s decision to cut the required reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage points risked putting further downward pressure on the renminbi.

但经济学家们警告称，央行决定下调存款准备金率0.5个百分点，可能使人民币受到进一步下行压力。

China’s foreign exchange reserves have been falling at a rate of $100bn a month since December, as the PBoC attempts to cushion the renminbi’s recent fall against the dollar. At a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers last weekend in Shanghai, senior Chinese officials assured their international counterparts that the renminbi would not experience a sustained devaluation.

随着中国央行试图缓解人民币近期相对于美元的下跌，自去年12月以来中国外汇储备每个月下降1000亿美元。在上周末上海举行的G20财长和央行行长会议上，中国高官向国际同行保证，人民币不会出现持续贬值。

“The aim [of the RRR cut] clearly is to support the economy at a time that downward pressures on growth remain strong and uncertainty⁸ is elevated,” Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford⁹ Economics, wrote yesterday. “This move suggests that for China’s policymakers growth remains¹⁰ key.”

“（降准）的目的显然是支持经济，目前增长面临的下行压力仍然很大，不确定性居高不下，”牛津经济(Oxford Economics)的高路易(Louis Kuijs)昨日写道。“此举似乎表明，对中国的政策制定者来说，增长仍是关键。”

The PBoC has cut the RRR by 2 percentage points over the past year, reducing it to 17 per cent for big banks.

中国央行在过去一年里已经累计降准2个百分点，对大银行下调至17%。

But yesterday’s reduction was the first since October as the central bank returned to a tactic¹¹ it had shelved in favour of managing the country’s money supply through open market operations.

不过，昨天的下调是去年10月以来的第一次；此前央行搁置了这种战术，转而通过公开市场操作来管理中国的货币供应量。

The latest cut is also aimed at countering the impact on the money supply of large capital outflows in recent months and may also be intended to boost confidence in China’s stock market, which has renewed its falls, analysts¹² say.

分析师们表示，最新的降准之举还旨在抵消近几个月大量资本外流对货币供应量的影响，可能还意在提振投资者对近来恢复跌势的中国股市的信心。

“It may be the PBoC senses that speculative¹³ pressure has diminished or that closer monitoring of capital flows has helped slow the [out]flow[s],” Mark Williams, China economist⁶ at Capital Economics, said in a note. “Either way, today’s decision suggests the PBoC is more relaxed about outflows than a few weeks ago.”

“中国央行也许感觉到，投机压力已经减弱，或者更加密切地监测资本流动已经帮助减缓了外流，”凯投宏观(Capital Economics)中国经济学家马克威廉姆斯(Mark Williams)在一份简报中表示。“不管怎样，今天的决定似乎表明，中国央行对资本外流没有几周前紧张了。”