利率飆升 開發中國家債台高築情勢惡化

Soaring inflation saddled developing countries with a record $1.4 trillion in debt servicing costs last year, the World Bank said in a report published Tuesday, detailing the precarious state faced by the world’s most vulnerable economies since the pandemic.

世界銀行周二發布一份報告，稱全球最脆弱經濟體自新冠疫情以來面臨的危險狀態，通貨膨脹率飆升，使開發中國家去年背負1.4兆美元的創紀錄債務清償成本。

As central banks around the world raised interest rates to slow rising prices, poor countries with already high debt burdens saw the interest payments on the money that they owed to creditors balloon. While principal balances held steady at around $951 billion, interest payments jumped by a third, to $406 billion. That has left more countries facing fiscal crises and struggling to avoid default.

隨著世界各國中央銀行提高利率以減緩物價上漲，原本就背負沉重債務負擔的貧窮國家，目睹他們積欠債權人款項的利息支出激增。儘管本金餘額穩定維持在約9510億美元，但利息支付增加三分之一，達4060億美元。這使更多國家面臨財政危機，努力掙扎避免違約。

“These facts imply a metastasizing solvency crisis that continues to be misdiagnosed as a liquidity problem in many of the poorest countries,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s chief economist, wrote in the report. “It is easy to kick the can down the road, to provide these countries just enough financing to help them meet their immediate repayment obligations. But that simply extends their purgatory.”

世界銀行首席經濟學家吉爾在報告中寫道：「這些事實暗示一場償付能力危機正在蔓延，這場危機在許多最貧窮的國家仍被誤判為流動性問題。逃避問題很容易，也就是只給這些國家足夠的資金，協助他們履行目前的還款義務。但這只是延長他們的痛苦。」

More than a dozen sovereign nations defaulted on their debt in the past three years, and more than 30 of the world’s poorest countries have experienced “debt distress,” according to the United Nations. In 2023, Belarus, Ghana, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Zambia were all in default, according to Fitch Ratings.

聯合國指出，超過一打主權國家在過去三年拖欠債務，且超過30個世界最貧窮國家曾經歷「債務困擾」。國際信評機構惠譽國際指出，在2023年，白俄羅斯、迦納、黎巴嫩、斯里蘭卡和尚比亞都出現債務違約。

Global financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been working with international lenders to help developing countries restructure their debt, but the process has been slow and painstaking.

世界銀行和國際貨幣基金等全球金融機構一直與國際貸款機構合作，協助開發中國家重組其債務，但這個過程緩慢而艱苦。

The IMF estimated that global public debt would exceed $100 trillion this year, and the World Bank has warned that poverty-reduction efforts have reached a standstill because of weak growth in poor countries that were hardest hit by the pandemic.

國際貨幣基金估計，今年全球公共債務會超過100兆美元，世界銀行警告，由於受新冠疫情影響最嚴重的貧窮國家經濟成長疲軟，這些國家的脫貧工作陷入停滯。

加拿大採取行動保護北極防中俄威脅

Citing growing interest by China and Russia in the Arctic as global warming makes the region more accessible, Canada said it would focus on building stronger alliances with other nations in the region, particularly the United States.

加拿大表示，全球暖化使北極地區更容易進入，中國和俄羅斯對此區域興趣漸增，加國將著重在北極地區與其他國家建立更強大的聯盟，特別是美國。

“For many years, Canada has aimed to manage the Arctic and northern regions cooperatively with other states as a zone of low tension,” according to a statement by the Canadian government.

加拿大政府發布的一份聲明指出：「多年來，加拿大的目標是和其他國家合作管理北極和北部地區，成為一個低緊張區域。」

But more recent developments, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, had “shaken the foundations of international cooperation in the Arctic,” the statement said.

聲明表示，但近期事態發展，包括俄羅斯2022年入侵烏克蘭，「已動搖北極地區國際合作基礎」。

Canada has long debated how best to assert control over its vast but very sparsely populated Arctic.

加拿大長期以來一直在討論，如何才能以最好的方式，對其幅員廣闊但人煙卻非常稀少的北極地區行使控制權。

The policy statement calls climate change “the overarching threat” to that control. Warmer temperatures and thinning ice make it increasingly likely that it will soon be possible in the summers for ships to regularly travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean by way of an Arctic route known as the Northwest Passage.

這份政策聲明稱氣候變遷是對控制權的「首要威脅」。更溫暖的氣溫和冰層變薄，使船舶很快有可能在夏季經常藉由被稱為西北航道的北極航線，自太平洋航行至大西洋。

Canada’s government said the country was committed to increasing military spending in the Arctic, including a 5 billion Canadian dollar ($3.6 billion) upgrade of defense systems used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command — a joint operation of the two countries.

加拿大政府表示，該國致力於增加北極地區的軍事支出，包括花費50億加元（36億美元）升級兩國組成北美防空司令部所使用的防空系統。

“It is clear that Russia has no red lines, its designs on the Arctic and its resources are well known,” Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister said. “But what is new is that Russia is increasingly dependent on China because of its war in Ukraine.”

加拿大外交部長趙美蘭表示：「顯然，俄羅斯沒有紅線，該國對北極地區和該地區資源的不軌企圖眾所周知。但新的狀況是，俄羅斯因為和烏克蘭的戰爭，日益依賴中國。」

A warming Arctic climate is playing havoc in the region. Melting permafrost threatens coastal communities with inundation, and unstable sea ice is limiting the ability of the Inuit, who dominate the region, to hunt.

北極氣候暖化正對該地區造成破壞。永凍土融化讓沿海地區面臨洪水威脅，而不穩固的海冰限制主導該地區的因紐特人狩獵能力。

China has declared its interest in becoming an Arctic power and many experts say that may be partly driven by the prospect of an expansion of mining being made commercially viable by a less icy Arctic.

中國已宣布有興趣成為北極強權，而許多專家表示，這可能部分是因為北極冰層減少，使礦業擴張前景在商業上變得可行。

China, which also has an Arctic cooperation agreement with Russia, regularly sends “dual purpose” ships into the area to conduct scientific research and to collect military intelligence, according to Canada’s government.

加拿大政府指出，中國和俄羅斯也有北極合作協議，定期派遣「雙重用途」船舶進入該地區，進行科學研究並收集軍事情報。

It also listed a number of joint military exercises by China and Russia, as well as Chinese incursions into airspace patrolled by the United States, to underscore how the Arctic is become an increasingly active theater of global competition.

加國也列出中國和俄羅斯進行數場聯合軍演，以及中國侵入美國巡邏的空域，強調北極地區如何成為日益活躍的全球競爭戰場。