China ordered banks to hold more of their deposits on reserve with the central bank on Friday in a move aimed at reducing the amount they can lend and tackling stubbornly high inflation in the country.

　　中國央行(PBoC)周五晚間宣布，將上調銀行存款準備金率。此舉旨在減少各銀行可用以放貸的資金總量，以應對國內高居不下的通脹。

　　The central bank raised the required deposit reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage points for all Chinese banks, effective from January 20, bringing the publicly announced ratio to 19 per cent for the country’s main lenders.

　　中國央行宣布，自1月20日起，將中國所有銀行的存款準備金率上調0.5個百分點。屆時，中國大型金融機構的官方準備金率將升至19%。

　　The requirement was already at its highest level since reserve requirements were introduced in the mid-1980s after the central bank raised the ratio six times last year.

　　去年，中國央行共6次上調準備金率，目前銀行存款準備金率已達到上世紀80年代中期該比率施行以來的最高水平。

　　Headline annual consumer price inflation hit a 28-month high of 5.1 per cent in November and, despite some expectations that price rises moderated in December, underlying inflationary pressure in the economy remains strong.

　　去年11月，中國居民消費價格同比上漲5.1%，創下28個月新高。盡管一些人預計12月份通脹將有所緩和，但中國經濟仍面臨強大的潛在通脹壓力。

　　The government has made fighting inflation a key task for this year amid concern rapid price increases could lead to social unrest, as they have on numerous occasions in China’s recent history.

　　由于擔心物價快速上漲可能會引發社會動蕩，中國政府已將抗擊通脹當作今年的一項關鍵任務——中國近代史上曾多次出現通脹引發社會動蕩的情況。

　　Food prices disproportionately affect poorer citizens, who spend a bigger portion of their income on daily necessities and they have been the main driver of inflation, rising 11.7 per cent from a year earlier in November, according to official figures.

　　由于窮人生活必需品開支占收入的比例更高，食品價格上漲對窮人的影響尤為嚴重——食品價格也一直是推動通脹的主要因素。官方數據顯示，去年11月，中國食品價格同比上漲11.7%。

　　China will celebrate the Chinese New Year in early February and inflation usually accelerates in the weeks leading up to the festival as citizens rush to buy delicacies and gifts for the family holiday.

　　中國將在2月初迎來農歷新年，在春節前幾周，由于民眾爭相為這個闔家團圓的節日采購美食和禮物，通脹往往會提速。

　　A senior official from the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s powerful state planning agency, on Thursday signalled Beijing’s willingness to impose fresh price controls if inflation did not moderate in the coming months.

　　中國權勢很大的國家規劃機構——發改委(NDRC)——的一位高級官員周四發出信號，稱如果未來幾個月通脹仍得不到緩解，中國政府將出臺新的價格管控措施。

　　Zhou Wangjun, vice-director of the NDRC pricing section, said Beijing would likely announce new policies to combat inflation if prices accelerated in the first quarter.

　　發改委價格司副司長周望軍表示，如果今年一季度物價水平出現較大幅度的上升，中國將考慮出臺進一步的調控措施以應對通脹。

　　As well as raising the reserve requirement six times last year, Beijing also lifted benchmark interest rates twice, in October and on Christmas day.

　　去年，中國政府除了6次上調存款準備金率以外，還分別在10月份和圣誕節當日兩次上調了基準利率。

　　Chinese banks lent Rmb9,600bn in 2009, more than double the amount of new loans extended the previous year, and the full-year total for 2010 was roughly the same when off-balance sheet lending was considered, analysts say.

　　2009年，中國各銀行共發放貸款9.6萬億元人民幣，新增貸款總額較上年增加了一倍以上。分析師表示，若計入表外貸款，中國2010年全年放貸總額與上年基本持平。

　　With the economy already flush with liquidity, Chinese banks lent around Rmb500bn in just the first week of January, more than the Rmb480.7bn total new lending for all of December, according to Chinese media reports.

　　據中國官方媒體報道，盡管中國經濟已出現流動性過剩，但僅在今年的第一周，中國各銀行就發放了約5000億元人民幣貸款，高于去年12月全月4807億元人民幣的新增貸款總額。

　　The scramble to extend credit at the start of the year is an annual event in China thanks to a system of loan quotas that encourage banks to postpone loans from the final months of the previous year and book them all in the first quarter.

　　由于中國的貸款額度制度鼓勵銀行在上年最后幾個月推遲放貸，而積攢到來年第一季度再發放，各銀行在新年伊始爭相放貸，是中國年年上演的一幕。

　　“Today’s announcement [of the reserve rate hike] will be seen in part as a response to the rapid lending reported in the first week of January,” said Mark Williams, senior China economist at Capital Economics.

　　資本經濟(Capital Economics)中國問題高級經濟學家馬克•威廉姆斯(Mark Williams)表示：“今天宣布（上調存款準備金率），在某種程度上將被視為政府對銀行在新年第一周迅速放貸的一種回應。”