VOA双语新闻：中国允许一些公司用人民币结算

　　Some companies in Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia can now do business in China's currency, in the latest move to internationalize the yuan. A new program allows some importers and exporters to settle trade in China's currency, the yuan, beginning this week.

一些在香港、澳门以及东南亚的公司现在允许用中国货币结算，这是人民币国际化的新动向。从本周开始，一项新的计划允许一些进口商和出口商使用中国人民币来结算。

Kelvin Lau is the regional economist 1 at Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong. He says the agreement allows businesses in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, to carry out more business in the yuan, or CNY, and this should help earnings 2.

刘凯文是渣打银行经济师，他说，这个协议允许中国特区香港的商人用人民币做更多生意，这应该会帮助增加收益。

"All these will help Hong Kong to complete its business capability 3 and to achieve the longer term goal of being China's offshore 4 CNY financial center," he said.

他说：“所有这些措施将帮助香港扩大商业潜力，让香港以中国离岸人民币金融中心的地位取得长期目标。”

Lau says this is a step toward making the yuan a reserve currency in Asian banks.

刘凯文说，这是推动人民币成为亚洲银行储备货币的一个步骤。

It also should cut foreign exchange costs for exporters and importers, who before had to settle trade deals with Chinese companies in foreign currencies, usually dollars.

这个措施对过去必须使用外汇--通常是用美元--和中国公司进行贸易的出口商和进口商来说应该可以降低外汇兑换的成本。

The People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary 5 Authority agreed on the program last week. It permits Hong Kong companies to trade in yuan in five Chinese cities: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhuhai.

中国人民银行和香港金融管理局上星期同意使用这个做法，这个措施允许香港公司在中国五个城市用人民币结算，这些城市包括上海、广州、深圳、东莞、珠海等。

The program also allows some companies in the Chinese territory of Macau and in Southeast Asian nations to settle trade in yuan.

这个项目还允许一些在中国另一特区澳门以及东南亚国家的公司用人民币结算。

The Bank of China in Hong Kong conducted the first cross-border yuan trade settlement with the Bank of China in Shanghai on Monday. The Bank of China is the country's largest foreign exchange bank.

中国银行香港分行星期一和中国银行上海分行进行了首笔跨境人民币贸易结算。中国银行是中国最大的外汇兑换银行。

Lau says the program's is likely to have only a marginal effect on business for now.

刘凯文说，这个项目对商贸来说目前可能只有有限的效果。

In 2003, Hong Kong banks were permitted to take yuan-denominated deposits and exchange yuan for Hong Kong dollars. At present, more than 50 billion yuan is deposited in Hong Kong banks.

2003年，香港的银行开始允许以人民币进行储蓄。目前香港各银行储蓄总值超过500亿元人民币。

Because of the global economic crisis, China has complained this year about the U.S. dollar's role as the world's dominant 6 reserve currency. The dollar has fallen in value against other currencies, reducing the value of China's vast foreign currency reserves, most of which is in dollars.

由于全球经济危机的影响，美元作为在世界有主导地位的储备货币这一做法今年受到中国的抱怨。美元兑其他货币币值下降，使得中国的巨额外汇储备币值锐减，其中以美元为主。

However, many economists 7 and foreign exchange experts note that since China closely controls the yuan's exchange rate, and has not made the currency fully 8 convertible 9 in international markets, it has limited room to shift away from the dollar.

不过，许多经济学家和外汇专家指出，由于中国严密地控制人民币的汇率，并且还没有完全让人民币在国际市场上自由兑换，因此北京只有有限的空间改变以美元为主的储备方式。