西班牙失業率升至25% 官員稱已接近危機邊緣
Nearly one Spaniard in four is unemployed, according to data released yesterday, as the country’s economic and financial predicament prompted a government minister to talk of a “crisis of enormous proportions”.
昨日發佈的數據顯示，西班牙的失業率幾乎達到25%。西班牙政府的一名大臣將該國的經濟和金融困境稱爲一場“巨大的危機”。
The data from the National Statistics Institute showed 367,000 people lost their jobs in the first three months of the year. That means more than 5.6m Spaniards – or 24.4 per cent of the workforce – are unemployed, close to a record high set in 1994.
西班牙國家統計局(National Statistics Institute)的數據顯示，今年頭三個月，有36.7萬西班牙人丟掉了工作。這意味着，西班牙失業人口達到逾560萬人（也就是24.4%的勞動人口），接近1994年創下的歷史最高紀錄。
The data, which came on the heels of another sovereign credit rating downgrade, prompted José Manuel García-Margallo, foreign minister, to say that they were “terrible for everyone and terrible for the government”. He compared the European Union to the doomed liner Titanic, saying that passengers would be saved only if all worked together to find a solution.
這些數據發佈前不久，西班牙主權信用評級再次遭到調降。西班牙外交大臣若澤•曼努埃爾•加西亞-馬加略(José Manuel García-Margallo)表示：“對每個人以及西班牙政府來說，（這些數據）簡直糟透了。”他把歐盟(EU)比作在劫難逃的郵輪泰坦尼克號(Titanic)，認爲乘客們只有齊心協力找到解決方案才能得救。
“Spain is undergoing a crisis of enormous proportions,” Mr García-Margallo told state radio, insisting that reforms by the centre-right government of Mariano Rajoy, prime minister, would eventually restore the economy to health.
加西亞-馬加略告訴西班牙國家電臺：“西班牙正在經歷一場巨大的危機。”他堅持認爲，首相馬里亞諾•拉霍伊(Mariano Rajoy)的中右翼政府實施的改革最終會使西班牙經濟恢復健康。
Half of young people under 25 have no work and in more than 1.7m households no one has a job. That contrasts starkly with fellow eurozone country Germany, where unemployment is at its lowest point since east and west reunited in 1990.
西班牙25歲以下年輕人中有一半沒有工作，170多萬個家庭全家失業。這和同爲歐元區成員國的德國形成鮮明對比，德國的失業率正處於1990年東西德統一以來的最低點。
The unemployment figures come amid a Europe-wide debate about whether government austerity imposed to cut budget deficits is threatening growth prospects. However, Luis de Guindos, economy minister, made it clear Madrid was not abandoning austerity and announced plans to raise value added tax next year, something the government had promised repeatedly not to do.
發佈上述失業數據之際，整個歐洲都在爭論爲削減預算赤字而實施的政府緊縮計劃是否正對經濟增長前景構成威脅。不過，西班牙經濟大臣路易斯•德金多斯(Luis de Guindos)明確表示，馬德里方面沒有放棄緊縮，而且宣佈了明年提高增值稅的計劃——西班牙政府曾一再承諾不會提高增值稅。
Standard and Poor’s, the credit rating agency, earlier delivered another blow to Spanish confidence by cutting the country’s sovereign credit rating by two notches, predicting that a recession already under way this year would continue into 2013.
信用評級機構標準普爾(S and P)早些時候把西班牙的主權信用評級調降了兩級，再次打擊了人們對西班牙的信心。標普預測，西班牙今年已經開始的經濟衰退將持續到2013年。
The downgrade shook eurozone financial markets yesterday morning, helping to push up Italian borrowing costs in an auction of government bonds, and slightly increasing Spanish yields in the secondary market.
此次降級在昨日早間對歐元區金融市場造成衝擊，擡高了意大利拍賣的一批國債的借貸成本，二級市場中西班牙國債的收益率也略有上升。
“The worry is that this is unlikely to be an isolated downgrade,” said Matt King, a senior strategist at Citigroup. “Investors are discovering that Italian and Spanish government bonds are not as safe as they thought.”
花旗集團(Citigroup)高級策略師馬特•金(Matt King)表示：“人們擔憂的是，這很可能不是一次孤立的降級。投資者正發現，意大利和西班牙國債並不如想象中的那般安全。”
S and P’s downgrade was worrying for Spanish leaders and foreign investors because it mentioned the need to provide extra financial support for weaker banks, a problem already highlighted earlier this week by the International Monetary Fund.
此次降級之所以令西班牙領導人和外國投資者憂心忡忡，是因爲標普提到西班牙必須向較爲疲軟的銀行提供額外的資金援助，而國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)在本週早些時候就已經強調了這一問題。
Analysts say a “bad bank” to take over property loans from the balance sheets of Spanish banks would probably have to be financed either by the Spanish state or by the EU itself.
分析人士指出，從西班牙銀行資產負債表中接收房地產貸款的“壞銀行”，很可能必須要由西班牙政府或者歐盟自己來提供融資。
