VOA慢速英语2012 Economics Report - Banking Reform Is Central to Burma’s Economic Progress

Economics Report - Banking 1 Reform Is Central to Burma’s Economic Progress

经济报道 - 银行业改革是缅甸经济进程的重点

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

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.

在军事统治下，缅甸金融业多年来一直管理不善。但最近，缅甸政府推行了经济改革。这些措施正在改变缅甸的银行和重振企业活力。甚至有人希望缅甸能成为亚洲快速增长的经济体之一，成为亚洲经济一虎。

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 2 and international sanctions left it one of the poorest countries in the area.

在1962年军方夺权之前，缅甸曾经是东南亚表现最好的经济体之一。军方夺权后，随之而来的是对经济多年的国家管控。大范围的腐败和国际制裁使得缅甸成为该地区最贫穷的国家之一。

Economist 3 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·特尼尔(Sean Turnell)表示，想要扭转这一经济需要强有力的反腐败措施。这就是为什么他说，政治变革对经济改革非常重要。他说，限制措施使得缅甸人很难从事国际业务。

"At present the most destructive regulation is the one that restricts access to foreign exchange and restricts access to import licenses 4. 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."

“目前最具破坏性的是限制外汇准入和进出口许可证颁发的这一规定。因为它不仅限制了该国的进口量，而缅甸确实需要大量进口，它还有一个附加效应，那就是人为地提高了汇率。”

The restrictions 5 on foreign monetary 6 exchange do not just hurt big business. They affect small businesses, too.

对外国货币兑换的限制不仅伤害了大企业，还影响到了小企业。

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.

例如，Nyi Nyi在仰光市有个工场。他和家人为远在香港的买家生产玩具。所以他的玩具企业是国际性的，但缅甸的银行不是。

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 7 Teller 8 Machines, and foreign exchange licenses for private banks.

Nyi Nyi仍然依赖被称为hondis的中间商处理外币交易。到缅甸的外国游客曾经用过“黑市”货币兑换商，而中间商仍然是国际资金转移的主要途径。但政府希望结束这种无监管、以现金为基础的经济现象。政府计划通过设立新的自动取款机以及对私人银行颁发外汇许可证来改变这一状况。

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.

缅甸政府还改革了其货币体系。缅甸官方已经废除了之前的官方汇率。官方汇率曾经是6缅元兑1美元，但非官方的黑市汇率曾经超过800缅元兑1美元。

There are also plans to ease import restrictions and work continues on laws governing foreign investment.

此外缅甸政府还计划放宽进口限制，继续制定有关外商投资管理的法律。

Burma is seeking to fully 9 link, or integrate, its economy with its neighbors in the ASEAN economic group by 2015. Foreign investors 10, businesses and tourists are hoping that the new banking and other financial reforms will end years of corruption and mismanagement.

缅甸正寻求在2015年前将本国经济与东盟经济共同体的邻国充分整合。外国投资者、商人和游客都希望全新的银行业和其它金融改革能够结束多年来的腐败和管理不善。