中国贷款帮助巴基斯坦避免货币危机

China has increased its economic sway in Pakistan during the past year, providing more than $1bn in loans to help its neighbour stave off a currency crisis.

中国在过去一年加大对巴基斯坦的经济影响力，提供逾10亿美元贷款以帮助这个邻国避免一场货币危机。

State-backed Chinese banks have twice come to the rescue of the nuclear-armed state, officials have told the Financial Times, with $900m in 2016 and $300m in the first three months of this year.

官员们告诉英国《金融时报》，国家支持的中资银行两度救助拥有核武的巴基斯坦，2016年提供了9亿美元，今年头三个月提供了3亿美元。

The loans demonstrate the perilous fragility of Pakistan’s stocks of foreign currency, depleted in recent months by rising imports and falls in exports and remittances from Pakistanis abroad.

这些贷款显示出巴基斯坦外汇储备的脆弱性，近几个月由于进口上升、出口下降以及海外巴基斯坦人减少汇款回家而趋于枯竭。

China’s financial help also underlines an increasingly close relationship at a time of strains between Pakistan and the US.

在巴基斯坦与美国关系紧张之际，中国的财务援助也突显了中巴两国日益密切的关系。

Beijing is preparing to invest at least $52bn in Pakistan to build a highway, energy pipelines, power-generation facilities and industrial parks from the western port of Gwadar on the Gulf to the Chinese border to the north.

北京方面正准备在巴基斯坦投资至少520亿美元，沿着从该国西部濒临波斯湾的瓜德尔港到北部巴中边境的路线，建造一条高速公路，以及若干能源管道、发电设施和工业园区。

But despite its expected benefits, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure project is set to further deplete the foreign currency stocks, needed to pay contractors and suppliers.

但是，尽管有预期的好处，但中巴经济走廊(China-Pakistan Economic Corridor)基建项目势必进一步消耗巴基斯坦的外汇储备，因为该国将需要向承包商和供应商付款。

Figures from the State Bank of Pakistan show the country had $17.1bn of net reserves at the end of February, down from $18.9bn at the end of October and a peak of $25bn several years ago.

巴基斯坦国家银行(State Bank of Pakistan)的数据显示，2月底该国净外汇储备为171亿美元，低于去年10月底的189亿美元，以及几年前达到的250亿美元的峰值。

This has forced the country to seek emergency loans from outside sources to repay older loans made in foreign currencies.

这迫使该国从外部来源寻求紧急贷款，以偿还以外币计价的较早贷款。

Of the $1.2bn from the Chinese institutions, $600m came from the government-run China Development Bank and $600m from the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the only mainland bank with a branch in Pakistan. Policy banks such as CDB often act on behalf of the central bank.

在中资机构提供的12亿美元中，有6亿美元来自中国国家开发银行(CDB)，还有6亿美元来自国有控股的中国工商银行(ICBC)，后者是在巴基斯坦设有分行的唯一中资银行。国开行等政策性银行往往代表中国央行行事。

One Pakistani official said: “China keeps a very close eye on our economic trends and they’re happy to come to our help wherever needed.”

一位巴基斯坦官员说：“中国非常关注我们的经济发展趋势，他们乐意在需要的时候帮助我们。”

But experts warn that Pakistan is likely to have to return to institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, to which it sought recourse in 2013, for further support.

但是专家们警告说，巴基斯坦很可能不得不再度向国际货币基金组织(IMF)这样的机构寻求进一步的支持；该国曾在2013年向IMF求助。

Vaqar Ahmed, deputy executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad, said: “Technically speaking we should have gone back to the IMF in January, but ministers are likely to try and wait until after the election [for parliament planned for 2018].”

伊斯兰堡可持续发展政策研究所(SDPI)副执行主任瓦加尔?艾哈迈德(Vaqar Ahmed)表示：“从技术上说，我们应该在1月份就再度向IMF求助，但是部长级官员们很可能会试图拖到（计划于2018年举行的议会）选举之后。”

One member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz told the Financial Times ministers were loath to turn to the IMF until after the election in an effort to limit the political fallout.

执政的巴基斯坦穆斯林联盟（谢里夫派）的一名成员告诉英国《金融时报》，为了限制政治冲击波，部长级官员们极其不愿意在选举之前向IMF求助。

“The IMF is a politically volatile issue in our country. If we go to the IMF to deal with our needs, that will send a very negative political signal and the opposition [parties] will use that against the government,” the person said.

“IMF在我国是一个政治敏感的问题。如果我们去找IMF来解决我们的需要，那将发出一个非常消极的政治信号，反对派政党将借用这件事狠批政府，”此人表示。

It was only last year that Pakistan cleared the IMF debt incurred in 2013, a repayment that led policymakers in Islamabad and abroad to express optimism about prospects for economic stability.

巴基斯坦只是在去年才还清了2013年欠下的IMF债务，此举导致伊斯兰堡及海外的政策制定者对经济稳定前景表示乐观。

Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, called it a “moment of opportunity” for the country.

IMF总裁克里斯蒂娜?拉加德(Christine Lagarde)曾把这件事称为该国的“机遇时刻”。