正文
VOA慢速英语:Banking Reform Is Central to Burma’s Economic Progress
来自美国之音慢速英语,这里是经济报道。
Burma's financial industry has suffered from years of mismanagement under military rule. But more recently, the government has pushed through economic reforms. Those measures are changing the nation’s banks and reenergizing businesses. There are even hopes that Burma could become one of Asia’s fast growing economies: an Asian Tiger.
缅甸金融业在军事统治下多年管理不善,但最近,政府开始推进经济改革,这些措施正在改变该国的银行,促进工商业的发展。这样看来,缅甸有可能成为亚洲快速发展的经济体,成为亚洲新兴国家。
Burma had the one of the best-performing economies in Southeast Asia before the military seized power in 1962. Many years of state control over the economy followed. Widespread corruption and international sanctions left it one of the poorest countries in the area.
在1962年军队夺取政权之前,缅甸是东南亚业绩最佳的经济体。随后国家对经济实行多年控制,无孔不入和腐败和国际制裁使得缅甸成为该地区最贫困国家。
Economist Sean Turnell says turning around the economy will require strong measures against corruption. That is why he says political change is important to economic reform. He says restrictive measures make it harder for Burmese to do business internationally.
经济学家肖恩•图内尔表示,改善经济需要对腐败采取强硬措施。因此他说政治改革对经济改革很重要,他说,限制措施使得缅甸难以进行国际商业活动。
"At present the most destructive regulation is the one that restricts access to foreign exchange and restricts access to import licenses. Because the effect of that is not only to restrict the amount of imports that come into this country, and it really needs a lot of imports, but there’s an added effect to it and that is that keeps the exchange rate artificially high."
“目前最具破坏性的规定,就是限制获得外汇和进口执照。这不仅限制缅甸进口商品的量,因为缅甸确实需要大量进口,而且还有其他影响,使得汇率人为地保持高位。”
The restrictions on foreign monetary exchange do not just hurt big business. They affect small businesses, too.
限制外汇交易不仅影响了大公司,也影响到了小买卖。
For example, Nyi Nyi owns a workshop in Rangoon. He and his family manufacture toys for buyers from as far away as Hong Kong. So his toy business is international, but Burma’s banks are not.
比如,Nyi Nyi在仰光开了一家手工店,他和家人在这里生产玩具,客户最远的来自香港。他的玩具生意已经国际化,但缅甸银行还不是。
Nyi Nyi still depends on middlemen, called “hondis,” to process foreign money transactions. Foreign visitors to Burma once used “black market” money changers, and hondis are still the main method for international money transfers. But the government hopes this unsupervised, cash-based economy is ending. It plans to do this with new ATMs, Automated Teller Machines, and foreign exchange licenses for private banks.
Nyi Nyi仍依靠中间人来进行外汇交易。来缅甸的外国游客一度在黑市兑换货币,中间人仍是国际货币交易的主要渠道。但政府希望结束这种无监管的现金经济,措施是推出新的自动取款机、自动柜员机和向私人银行授予外汇执照。
The Burmese government has also reformed its monetary system. Burmese officials have ended the old official exchange rate. The old rate was 6 Kyat to one United States dollar. But the black market, or unofficial, exchange rate was over 800 Kyat to the dollar.
缅甸政府还改革了金融体制,缅甸官方终结了旧有的官方汇率,即6缅币兑1美元。但在黑市上,非官方汇率是800缅币1美元。
There are also plans to ease import restrictions and work continues on laws governing foreign investment.
政府还计划放松进口限制,并用法律来管理外国投资。
Burma is seeking to fully link, or integrate, its economy with its neighbors in the ASEAN economic group by 2015. Foreign investors, businesses and tourists are hoping that the new banking and other financial reforms will end years of corruption and mismanagement.
缅甸还希望在2015年之前将其经济与东盟邻国实现完全对接。外国投资者、公司和旅游者希望新的银行等金融改革能结束多年的腐败和管理不善。
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