中國央行緊急注資以防"錢荒"重演

The Chinese central bank has made an emergency money injection after a surge in interbank rates, trying to prevent a repeat of the cash crunch that rattled global markets this year.

中國央行在中國的銀行間利率飆升後進行了緊急注資操作，試圖阻止今年早些時候衝擊全球市場的“錢荒”重演。

In a highly unusual move, the People’s Bank of China said it had conducted a “short-term liquidity operation” to provide credit to banks in need of money.

在一次極不尋常的行動中，中國人民銀行稱，它已通過“短期流動性調節工具”(SLO)，向亟需資金的銀行提供了信貸。

According to the central bank’s own rules, it is only meant to announce SLOs one month after their implementation, but on this occasion it was unwilling to brook such a delay. It used its account on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, yesterday afternoon to tell a jittery market that it had provided banks with the emergency cash.

根據中國央行自己的規則，它應當在實施SLO操作的一個月後才予以宣佈，但這一次它顯然不願忍耐這種遲延。昨日下午，中國央行利用其新浪微博（Weibo，類似於Twitter的微博客平臺）賬戶“央行微播”，告訴緊張不安的市場：它已向相關銀行提供了緊急資金。

Chinese money market rates had soared earlier in the day to levels last seen in late June when the country was hit by a liquidity squeeze that alarmed investors around the world about the potential for a financial crisis in China. The seven-day bond repurchase rate, an important gauge of short-term liquidity, rose to nearly 10 per cent as banks hoarded cash.

昨日早些時候，中國貨幣市場利率飆升至6月下旬以來未見的高位。中國短期流動性的關鍵指標——7天期質押式回購利率——升至近10%，銀行紛紛囤積資金。今年6月下旬，中國遭遇一場流動性緊缺，令世界各地投資者震驚，擔心中國可能爆發金融危機。

The central bank also extended trading in the country’s interbank market by 30 minutes yesterday to give financial institutions additional time to line up funds. The central bank last allowed an extended trading session during the June cash crunch.

昨日中國央行還將中國銀行間市場交易延長了30分鐘，讓金融機構有更多時間獲得資金。央行上一次延長交易時間是在6月份“錢荒”期間。

“It’s very clear they want to calm market fears,” said Zhou Hao, an analyst with ANZ in Shanghai. “The PBoC does not want to see the cash crunch repeated.”

“很顯然，他們希望消除市場擔心，”澳新銀行(ANZ)常駐上海的分析師周浩表示。“中國人民銀行(PBoC)不想看到錢荒重演。”

Yet the immediate cause for the sudden panic gripping the market was the central bank itself. Over five consecutive trading sessions, it had refrained from injecting cash in the financial system through its regular open-market operations.

然而，引發突如其來的市場恐慌的直接起因正是中國央行。此前央行連續五個交易日沒有通過常態化的公開市場操作向金融體系注入資金。

That surprised traders and posed a challenge for banks, which need to refinance a large number of assets before the end of the year.

這讓交易員們感到意外，並對各銀行構成一個挑戰，這些銀行需要在年底前對大量資產進行再融資。

During the cash crunch in June, central bank officials explained that they had allowed the money market to tighten as a warning to banks to improve their liquidity management. Several banks had become overly reliant on the interbank market as a cheap source of funds and were using the cash to finance risky off-balance sheet loans.

在6月的“錢荒”期間，中國央行官員解釋說，他們有意讓貨幣市場收緊，作爲對商業銀行的一個警告，要求它們改進流動性管理。此前多家銀行變得過於依賴銀行間市場，將其視爲一個廉價資金來源，並利用這些資金爲高風險的表外貸款融資。

The central bank has since guided money market rates to levels roughly 150 basis points higher than the average before the cash crunch. With China’s stock of credit soaring to about 200 per cent of gross domestic product, from 130 per cent five years ago, analysts believe the government is trying to encourage companies and investors to reduce their debt loads.

自那以來，中國央行將貨幣市場利率引導至高於“錢荒”之前平均值大約150個基點的水平。鑑於中國的信貸存量已從5年前相當於國內生產總值(GDP)的130%升至GDP的大約200%，分析師們相信，政府正試圖鼓勵企業和投資者降低各自的債務負擔。

“The PBoC wants money market rates to remain relatively high in order to lower leverage and contain financial risks,” said Duan Jihua, deputy general manager of Guohai Securities. “But they won’t push rates so high that it would actually trigger defaults or bankruptcy.”

“中國人民銀行希望貨幣市場利率保持在相對較高的水平，以便降低槓桿率，遏制金融風險，”國海證券(Guohai Securities)副總經理段吉華表示。“但他們不會把利率推高到足以引發違約或破產的水平。”