Authored by Gordon Watts via The Asia Times, For many poor nations, it is a long and winding road to ‘debt’ and ‘corruption.’ A
journey littered with economic potholes in the shape of China’s
signature foreign policy project which was unveiled by President Xi
Jinping six years ago.
In short, the US$1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative,
along with other foreign funding, has become a magical mystery tour,
baffling the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Or,
according to critics, a diplomatic car crash waiting to happen. 簡単に言うと、USD1T規模の一帯一路計画だ、他国投資も巻き込み、魔法の旅が始まった、世界銀行もIMFをも当惑させるものだった。もしくは、批評家に言わせると、外交的な自動車事故カークラッシュが待ち構えている。
“Compared with China’s dominance in world trade, its expanding role in global finance is poorly documented and understood,” a report released last week by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy stated.
“Over the past decades, China has exported record amounts
of capital to the rest of the world. Many of these financial flows are
not reported to the IMF, the BIS [the Bank for International
Settlements] or the World Bank,” authors Sebastian Horn,
of Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University, Carmen M Reinhart, of the
Harvard Kennedy School in the United States, and Christoph Trebesch, of
the Kiel Institute for the World Economyin Germany, wrote.
「中国の世界貿易覇権に比べると、世界金融市場に与える影響がほとんど文書化されておらず理解もされていない、」と先週 the Kiel Institure for the World Economyが述べた。「過去10年、中国は記録的な額の資金を海外に投じてきた。これらの資金フローの多くはIMFやBISそして世界銀行にも報告されていない、と著者たちは述べる、Munich Ludwig Maximilian UniversityのSebastian Horn,米国ハーバード大学のCarmen MReinhart、ドイツKiel Institure for the World EconomyのChristoph Trebeschたちだ。
“‘Hidden debts’ to China are especially significant for
about three dozen developing countries, and distort the risk assessment
in both policy surveillance and the market pricing of sovereign debt,” the working paper added.
The study then went on to highlight that China is now the world’s largest creditor. A breakdown of the numbers showed that lending soared to around US$5 trillion by 2018 from roughly $500 billion in 2000, which dwarfs World Bank and IMF credit lines. この報告書では中国を今や世界最大の貸主だと言う。数値を分析すると貸し出し学は2018年にUSD5Tにもなり、2000年の$500Bから大きく増えている、これは世界銀行やIMFの貸し出し限度を遥かに超えるものだ。
“This dramatic increase in Chinese official lending and investment is almost unprecedented in peacetime history,”
the report revealed. “Lower-income developing economies mostly receive
direct loans from China’s state-owned banks, often at market rates and
backed by collateral such as oil,” the report revealed.
“Our new dataset covers a total of 1,974 Chinese loans and 2,947
Chinese grants to 152 countries from 1949 to 2017. We find that about
one-half of China’s overseas loans to the developing world are
‘hidden,’” it continued.
“A main challenge to explore China’s large-scale official lending boom is its opacity.
Unlike the United States, the Chinese government does not release data
on its lending activities abroad or those of its government entities. No
data is therefore available from the creditor side,” the working paper
added.
Indeed, the lack of transparency has become an issue with the Belt and Road Initiative. Launched
in a fanfare of state-media hype in 2013, the BRI is epic in scale and
has become an extension of China’s global ambitions.
Crucial to the program are strands of the ‘New Silk Road’
superhighways connecting the world’s second-largest economy with 70
nations and 4.4 billion people across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and
Europe in a maze of multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects, including a web of digital links.
Yet in the past 18 months, the venture has been mired in controversy after being branded a “debt trap” by the US and its key Western allies.
ここ18か月間、この冒険は米国やその同盟国から「債務の罠」であるという論争に巻き込まれた。
“Similarly, China does not provide details on its Belt and Road Initiative and its direct lending activities,” the study by the Kiel Institute pointed out.
「同時に、中国は一帯一路の詳細を開示せずまた直接貸し出し活動も開示しない、」と the Kiel Instituteは指摘する。
“Apart from the aforementioned omissions in reporting to the Paris
Club, China does not divulge data on its official flows with the OECD’s
Creditor Reporting System, and it is not part of the OECD [Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development] Export Credit Group, which
provides data on long- and short-term trade credit flows,” it continued.
「これまで述べたこととは別に、the Paris Clubにも報告していない、中国はOECDのCreditor Reporting Systemにもデータを開示していない、またOECDの Export Credit Groupにも参加していない、この組織は超短期貿易与信データを提供している、」と書かれている。
“With regard to cross-border banking, China recently joined
the list of countries reporting to the BIS, but the data [has] not
[been] made available on a bilateral basis and the coverage is
incomplete. Taken together, these data limitations make it very
challenging to do rigorous empirical work on China’s official capital
exports,” the report added.
A graphic from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy report. 上の図はthe Kiel InstituteがWorld Economy 報告書に掲載したものだ。
Last year, a comprehensive study released by the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank, singled out 23 countries prone to “debt distress.” Of the group, Pakistan, Djibouti, the Maldives, Laos,
Mongolia, Montenegro, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were rated in the “high
risk” category.
Sri Lanka was another after it handed over control of the Hambantota
Port to China’s state-owned Merchants Port Holdings at the end of 2017
under the weight of massive loans.
昨年のことだ、ワシントンを拠点とするシンクタンク、the Center for Global Developmentから詳細な研究が開示された、23の国が「債務に苦しみ」始めている。「ハイランク」に分類されるのは、パキスタン、ジブチ、マルディブ、ラオス、モンゴル、モンテネグロ、タジキスタンそしてキルギスタンだ。2017年に多額債務似苦しみ、スリランカはHambantota 港を中国国有企業 Merchants Port Holdingに明け渡した。
Stung by phrases such as “debt book diplomacy,” Beijing has
again pledged to increase transparency when it comes to commercial
funding.
During a keynote speech at the annual BRI Forum in the National Convention Center in Beijing, Xi addressed mounting concerns in front of foreign dignitaries.
“The Belt and Road is an initiative for economic cooperation, instead of a geopolitical alliance or military league, and it is an open and inclusive process rather than an exclusive bloc or ‘China club’,” he said in April.
“Everything should be done in a transparent way and we should have zero tolerance for corruption.”
「すべてが透明で且つ汚職とは無縁でなければならない。」
Since then, the ruling Communist Party has announced plans to expand its anti-corruption campaign to BRI projects.
それ以来、共産党は反腐敗キャンペーンを一帯一路プロジェクトにも拡大すると広報した。
In the past, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection had
limited involvement in the program but that is starting to change.
かつては、中央規律監視委員会CCDIがこのプロジェクトへの関与を制限していたが、方針を変え始めた。
“How can you strike hard on corruption here at home and give a
free hand to Chinese people and business groups [that are] reckless
abroad,” La Yifan, the director-general for international co-operation at the CCDI, told the Financial Times last week. “Part of the campaign is to go after corruption and stolen assets abroad. “[We aim to] create a network of law enforcement of all these Belt and Road countries,” he added.
So, will this long and winding road finally have flashing warning
signs of “debt” and “corruption?” Or will this continue to be a highway
to economic hell? BRI nations might want to buckle up for a bumpy ride.
Amazonで買物をしてContrarianJを応援しよう Silver Outperforming Gold 2 Adam Hamilton July 26, 2019 3232 Words Silver has blasted higher in the last couple weeks, far outperforming gold. This is certainly noteworthy, as silver has stunk up the precious-metals joint for years. This deeply-out-of-favor metal may be embarking on a sea-change sentiment shift, finally returning to amplifying gold’s upside. Silver is not only radically undervalued relative to gold, but investors are aggressively buying. Silver’s upside potential is massive. ここ2週シルバーは急騰した、ゴールドを遥かに凌ぐものだ。これは注目すべきことだ、もう何年もシルバーはひどいものだった。この極端に嫌われた金属が大きく心理を買えている、とうとうゴールド上昇を増幅するに至った。シルバーは対ゴールドで極端に過小評価されているだけでなく、投資家は積極的に買い進んでいる。シルバーの潜在上昇力は巨大なものだ。 Silver’s performance in recent years has been brutally bad, repelling all but the most fanatical contrarians. Historically silver prices have been mostly ...
Amazonで買物をしてContrarianJを応援しよう Junk Bond Bubble In Pictures: Deflation Up Next by Tyler Durden Fri, 07/19/2019 - 14:37 Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk, The widely discussed "everything bubble" is, in reality, a corporate junk bond bubble on steroids sponsored by the Fed ... 幅広く議論されている「everything bubble」は実際に企業ジャンク・ボンドバブルにも言えることであり、これはFEDによりドーピング注入されている・・・ The highest grade AAA corporate bonds yield 2.75%. BBB-rated corporate bonds, just one step above junk, 3.5%. BB-rated bonds yield just 4.28%. 最高級ランクAAA企業債権の金利は2.75%だ。あとひとランク悪化でジャンク・ボンド入りするBBB債権金利は3.5%。BB格付け債権の金利でもわずか4.28%でしかない。 Corporate Bond Spreads 企業債権金利のスプレッド The spread between Prime AAA bonds and lower-medium grade bonds (see chart below) is just 0.77 percentage points. 最上位AAA債権と低中ランク債権のスプレッドがわずか0.77%しかない。 The spre...
結局、中国は隣国日本で20年前に起きたことを学んでいなかったということでしょう、というかどの国もどの政府も十分成熟するまでは「わかっちゃいるけどやめられない」ということでしょうね、きっと。 Spooked By Apple? Wait ‘Til China’s Bubble Bursts Written by Jesse Colombo | Jan, 3, 2019 Apple stock plunged nearly 10% on Thursday after the company cut its revenue forecast due to slowing iPhone sales in China. Apple’s woes dragged U.S. stock indices lower by more than 2% as fears of a more extensive China-driven slowdown spread. アップルの株価は火曜に約10%下落した、同社が中国でのiPhone売上原則を予想したためだ。アップルの弱さが米国株式指数を2%以上押し下げた、中国主導でさらなる原則が広がるのではという懸念からだ。 From the New York Times : ニューヨークタイムスによると: For years, no matter what was happening elsewhere, global companies bet billions upon billions of dollars that China’s consumers would keep spending money. 長年、他国で何が起きようとも多国籍企業は中国消費は巨額を維持することに賭けてきた。 Now, just when the world economy could use their financial firepower, they are no longer so quick to open their wallets. 今や、世界経済が金融弾薬を用いてももはや彼らの財布を緩めることはできない。 The latest sign of a slowdown in...
Gold Stocks Surge Higher Adam Hamilton February 22, 2019 2932 Words The gold miners’ stocks surged strongly this week, blasting to new upleg highs. The mounting gains are naturally driving more interest in this small contrarian sector, shifting sentiment towards bullish. Despite their accelerating rally, gold stocks still remain fairly low technically and deeply undervalued relative to gold. So their strengthening upleg likely has plenty of room to run considerably higher in coming months. 今週金鉱株は力強く上昇し新高値となった。上昇が積み上がりこの小さなコントラリアンセクターはさらに注目を集めている、これが心理を強気なものにする。ラリーが加速するが、金鉱株はテクニカル的にはまだ安値で、対ゴールドでとても過小評価されている。というわけで力強い上昇は今後数ヶ月まだかなりな上昇余地がある。 The gold miners’ stocks are ultimately leveraged plays on gold, which overwhelmingly drives their profits. The much-maligned yellow metal has enjoyed a strong upleg since mid-August, when record gold-futures s...
最後の2段落だけ訳をいれておきました。 Fed’s Risky QE4 Stock Ramp Adam Hamilton January 31, 2020 3567 Words The US stock markets dramatically surged mostly in a straight line since mid-October. This extraordinary rally started when the Federal Reserve announced it would resume expanding its balance sheet for the first time in years. The deluge of new liquidity from that quantitative-easing bond buying has again acted like rocket fuel for stock markets. After shooting vertically they are in real trouble when the Fed pulls back. In early October the flagship US S&P 500 stock index (SPX) slumped to 2888. That was a mild 4.6% pullback from late July’s latest record high. The SPX was still having a great year though, up 15.2% year-to-date at that point thanks to extreme Fed easing . After the SPX had plunged 19.8% mostly in Q4’18 in a severe near-bear cor...