坏帐担保使爱尔兰陷入危机

    This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

    On Wednesday, Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen announced measures to cut the biggest budget deficit in Europe.
    周三,爱尔兰总理布莱恩·考恩(Brian Cowen)公布了削减欧洲最大财政赤字的措施。

    BRIAN COWEN: "Today we've come to announce a four-year plan, between now and 2014. It's to bring certainty for our people. It's to ensure they have hope for the future."
    考恩:“今天,我们宣布一项从现在至2014年为期四年的计划。该计划将带给民众稳定,确保他们对未来仍有希望。”

    The plan aims to cut spending and raise taxes by twenty billion dollars. These austerity measures are a step toward getting aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
    该计划旨在通过削减开支,增加税收减少200亿美元赤字。这些紧缩措施向获得欧盟和国际货币基金组织援助迈进了一步。

    But Mr. Cowen's government could fall before next year's budget is passed.
    但考恩领导的政府可能在明年预算案通过之前下台。

    The government asked for help Sunday after weeks of saying it did not need any. The EU and the IMF are expected to provide about one hundred fifteen billion dollars -- or about half of Ireland's economy.
    在连续数周坚称不需要任何援助后,政府于周日开始寻求援助。欧盟和国际货币基金组织预计将提供1150亿美元的援助--援助金额将近爱尔兰GDP(国民生产总值)的一半。

    Ireland got into trouble by guaranteeing the debts of its banks during the world financial crisis two years ago. That promise has now cost over sixty billion dollars.
    爱尔兰由于在两年前的金融危机期间,为银行债务提供担保而陷入危机。截至目前,政府已为此耗费超过600多亿美元。

    Roisin O'Sullivan is an economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts and a former economist at the Central Bank of Ireland.
    Roisin O'Sullivan是马萨诸塞州史密斯学院的经济学教授,也是爱尔兰央行前经济学家。

    ROISIN O'SULLIVAN: "What was different about the Irish approach was that all deposits were guaranteed and bondholders, investors that had bought bonds in these banks, also received the government guarantee. This was a more extensive bailout than most countries pursued."
    Roisin O'Sullivan:“爱尔兰做法的不同之处就是,所有存款都有政府担保,购买这些银行股票的投资者,债券持有人也得到了政府担保。这比任何其他国家要求的援助范围都更广泛。”

    Professor O'Sullivan says Irish bankers and banking supervisors had too close of a relationship.
    Roisin O'Sullivan表示,爱尔兰银行家和银行监管机构关系过于密切。

    Ireland was known as the "Celtic Tiger" in the nineteen nineties. Its educated, English-speaking workers and low taxes appealed to foreign companies. Its economy grew quickly.
    20世纪90年代,爱尔兰是众所周知的“凯尔特之虎”。受过良好教育,母语为英语的劳动力以及低税收吸引了外国公司,爱尔兰的经济飞速增长。

    But foreign investment and low interest rates inflated a property bubble, raising prices to levels that could not be supported. Bad property loans hit hard at Ireland's main banks. Unemployment is over thirteen percent.
    但外国投资和低利率吹大了房地产泡沫,将房价推高到一个无法支撑的水平。不良房贷重创爱尔兰主要银行。失业率超过13%。

    Ireland's bank bailout and government spending have expanded this year's deficit to more than thirty percent of gross domestic product. This is ten times the EU limit for a deficit in relation to the size of an economy, as measured by GDP.
    对爱尔兰银行业的援助以及政府开支使今年的财政赤字增加到超过GDP的30%。这比欧盟要求的财政赤字占GDP规模比例高出10倍。

    But John James at Pace University in New York state says there is little the European Union can do. Germany and France want to give the European Commission more power over national budgets. For now, rescues by the European Central Bank and other lenders are the only answer in a debt crisis.
    但纽约州佩斯大学的约翰·詹姆斯(John James)表示,欧盟几乎无计可施。德国和法国希望赋予欧盟委员会在国家财政预算上更大的权力。目前,欧洲央行和其他借贷机构的拯救是解决债务危机的唯一途径。

    EU officials want to complete the Irish aid plan quickly. They want to be ready in case of more bad news from economies like Greece, Portugal and Spain.
    欧盟官员希望尽快完成爱尔兰援助计划,以便尽快做好应对来自诸如希腊,葡萄牙和西班牙这些国家更多经济方面的坏消息的准备。