中国央行今起下调存款准备金率

HONG KONG —China said on Monday evening that it would free up banks in the country to lend more, as the government attempts to shore up slowing economic growth.

香港——随着政府试图稳住下滑的经济增长速度，中国在周一晚间表示，将允许国内的银行发放更多的贷款。

The move comes as the country’s top financial policy makersattempt to reassure² the rest of the world that their management of the economy remains³ on track, and that they still have many tools at their disposal to avoid an even sharper slowdown in growth.China is also grappling with persistent⁴ capital outflows amid expectations that the currency, the renminbi, could weaken further.

宣布此举的同时，中国的最高财政政策制定者在试图让世界其他国家放心，他们对经济的管理仍保持在正确的轨道上，而且他们手边还有许多避免经济增长速度更大幅度下降的工具。中国也在对付资本持续大量外流的问题，由于人们预期中国货币人民币的价值可能会进一步走软。

The measure announced on Monday comes just days before the country’s top leaders convene⁵ in Beijing for the so-called two meetings, the annual gatherings⁶ of the full membership of the national legislature and a sprawling⁷ committee of political advisers⁸.

周一宣布的措施也是在中国最高领导人即将在北京召开所谓的两会的几天前，两会指的是每年一次的国家立法机构全体成员大会，以及一个庞大的政治顾问委员会的年度会议。

Effective Tuesday, China’s central bank said, the amount of cash that commercial banks are required to set aside as reserves will bereduced. Lowering the reserve requirement ratio essentially⁹ gives the state-controlled banking¹⁰ system more money to lend.

中国央行表示，自周二起，将降低商业银行需要留下来作为储备的现金数额。降低存款准备金率本质上是让由国家控制的银行系统有更多的钱放贷。

The move is the latest example of the fine line that China’s policy makers¹ are attempting to walk as they look to bolster¹¹ the economy, the world’s second-largest, after the United States. A major lending binge in recent years has left China with too many steel and cement factories and saddled many state-owned companies with too much debt. At the same time, China’s leaders are trying to channel lending to areas long underserved by state-owned banks, such as small and midsize businesses, that the leaders see as essential to nurturing¹² growth.

这一措施是中国的政策制定者在寻求提振经济时试图把握分寸的最新例证。中国是世界上第二大经济体，仅次于美国。近几年的一个放贷狂潮已经给中国留下了太多的钢铁厂和水泥厂，让许多国有企业背负了太多的债务。与此同时，中国领导人正试图让贷款进入国有银行长期忽略的领域，比如中小型企业，领导人认为中小型企业对促进经济增长至关重要。

This is the fifth time that the central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has cut the reserve ratio since the start of last year. Themove on Monday could release around 630 billion renminbi, or about $96 billion, in additional liquidity¹³ to China’s banking system, according to estimates from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

这是央行中国人民银行自去年年初以来第五次降低存款准备金率。据美国美林银行估计，周一的措施可向中国的银行系统提供大约6300亿人民币（相当于约960亿美元）的补充流动资金。

For the biggest banks, the ratio of total deposits that must be kept in reserve was reduced to 17 percent, from 17.5 percent. In recent months, Beijing has lowered interest rates and made other moves to rekindle¹⁴ growth. In a sign that some of those policies may be having an impact, China reported a record surge in credit growth for January.

对大型银行而言，它们必须保持的储备存款总额的比例从17.5％降到17％。近几个月来，北京当局已经几次降低利率，还采取其他措施以重振经济增长。这些政策也许产生了影响的一种迹象是，中国公布了1月份信贷增长创纪录飙升的数据。

By lowering the reserve requirement ratio, or R.R.R., by half a percentage point, the central bank is partly seeking to offset¹⁵ its own actions in support of the currency. The central bank has been selling dollars and buying renminbi to prop¹⁶ up the value of the renminbi, which has been under pressure.

通过把存款准备金率降低半个百分点，央行正部分地在寻求平衡自己做出的支持货币的行动。为了支撑人民币的价值，央行已在抛售美元、同时购买人民币，而人民币一直面临贬值的压力。

But that has siphoned liquidity out of the system. In response, the central bank has been injecting billions of renminbi into the country’s financial system. The R.R.R. cut serves the same purpose, essentially representing a lending quota¹⁷.

但是，这也减少了系统中的流动性。作为响应，央行已向国内的金融体系注入数十亿人民币。此次降准是为了同样的目的，本质上代表了一种贷款配额。

In a news release on Monday, China’s central bank said the reduction was intended “to maintain adequate and reasonable liquidity in the financial system and guide the steady moderate growth of money and credit.”

在周一发布消息时，中国央行表示，降准的目的是“保持金融体系流动性合理充裕，引导货币信贷平稳适度增长”。

In recent months, the People’s Bank of China has slowly been switching its focus away from changing reserve requirements. Instead, it has been putting greater emphasis on interest rates as a way to control liquidity — specifically encouraging credit in the bank-to-bank lending market — an approach that is generally regarded as more market-oriented.

近几个月来，中国人民银行已在慢慢地将注意力从改变存款准备金的要求上移开，变得更重视把利率作为控制流动性的工具，特别是在银行对银行贷款市场上鼓励信贷方面，这种方法被普遍认为更市场化。

Still, the pressure on the renminbi to weaken remains such that the central bank will probably need to dig deeper into its monetary¹⁸ policy toolbox. Economists²⁰ expect multiple reductions this year both to benchmark interest rates and to reserve ratios.

尽管如此，人民币面临的贬值压力仍然如此之大，以至于央行可能将需要动用其货币政策工具箱中更深层的工具。经济学家预计今年还将有几次降低基准利率和存款准备金率的动作。

“Over the past couple of years, the number of policy tools available to the People’s Bank of China has proliferated,” Mark Williams, the chief China economist¹⁹ at Capital Economics, wrote Monday evening in a research note.

“在过去的几年中，中国人民银行可用的政策工具的数量大增，”凯投宏观(Capital Economics)首席中国经济学家马克·威廉姆斯(Mark Williams)周一晚在一份研究简报中写道。

Although the central bank has been moving toward more market-driven interest rates, traditional measures like the R.R.R. cut still create across-the-board stimulus²¹, Mr. Williams added.

威廉姆斯补充说，虽然央行已经逐步走上更多地让市场决定利率的道路，但像降准这样的传统措施仍可制造全面的刺激。

“The move underscores a message that officials have repeated in recent days, including at the G-20 meeting: Policy makers still have room to support the economy,” he said.

他说，“此举凸显了官员在最近几天多次传达的信息，包括在20国集团会议上，那就是政策制定者仍然有支持经济的空间。”