伯南克：美元低利率将持续很久

Yields on US Treasuries fell sharply yesterday as Ben Bernanke outlined the Federal Reserve's plan to extricate itself from its policy of near-zero interest rates but stressed the economy was too fragile to implement it soon.

美联储(Fed)主席本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)昨日概述了美联储结束接近零利率政策的计划，但同时强调，鉴于经济过于脆弱，不会很快实施这一计划。受此影响，美国国债收益率急剧下跌。

In response to increasing pressure from investors and politicians, Mr Bernanke set out the Fed's “exit strategy” for its policies, which have pumped huge amounts of liquidity into the economy, prompting fears about inflation.

面对投资者和政界人士日益加大的压力，伯南克列出了美联储针对自身政策的“退出战略”。这些政策为经济体注入了大量流动性，进而引发了通胀担忧。

But the Fed chairman stressed that in spite of glimmers of improvement in the economy, the Fed intended to keep interest rates extremely low for an “extended period”.

但伯南克强调，虽然经济已出现好转迹象，但美联储打算在“很长一段时期内”将利率维持在极低水平。

“I want to be clear that we have a very long haul here because even if the economy begins to turn up in terms of production, unemployment is going to stay high for quite a while, so it's not going to feel like a really strong economy,” he said in his bi-annual report to Congress.

在向国会提交的半年度报告中，伯南克指出：“我想说明，我们面临着非常持久的困境，因为即使经济在产出方面开始好转，但失业率仍将在相当长时期内居高不下，因此感觉上不会像一个非常强劲的经济。”

The Fed expects the economy to start growing again at the end of this year but thinks the unemployment rate – now at 9.5 per cent – will remain elevated through 2011.

美联储预期，今年底，美国经济将再度开始增长，但失业率——目前为9.5%——直到2011年仍将保持高企。

His testimony boosted the price of Treasuries and sunk the yield on the 10-year note by 12 basis points to 3.46 per cent as investors were persuaded that rates would stay low for a long time.

伯南克的证词令投资者相信，低利率会维持相当长一段时间。受此影响，美国国债价格走高，10年期国债收益率下跌12个基点，至3.46%。

Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit Group, said that reaction might not last. “Long-term yields will again face upward pressures from a combination of inflation fears and recovery hopes,” he said. “Inflation will not be a risk for some time but inflation fears could still complicate the Fed's job sooner than it would like.”

意大利联合信贷银行(UniCredit)首席经济学家马可•阿隆齐奥塔(Marco Annunziata)表示，上述反应可能不会持续太久。“对通胀的担忧和对复苏的希望，将令长期收益率再度面临上行压力，”他表示。“通胀在一段时期内不会构成风险，但通胀担忧仍可能令美联储的任务复杂化，其时机可能早于美联储的期盼。”

译者/章晴

莎拉•奥康纳( Sarah O'Connor)、汤姆•布雷斯韦特(Tom Braithwaite)华盛顿，迈克尔•麦肯兹(Michael Mackenzie)纽约报道