Oil accounts for 97 percent of Nigeria's official exports. Over the past 21 years, the benchmark price of oil has roller-coastered between $17 and $145 per barrel. High oil prices have encouraged fiscally irresponsible policies, like excess spending, vanity public works, subsidized imports of refined petroleum products, currency manipulation and high levels of protectionism. During boom times, Nigeria splashed around oil money hosting international events like the 2003 All-Africa Games. It spent on grandiose projects like the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in the new national capital of Abuja and the Nigerian space program, which has now launched five satellites. During periods of low prices, Nigeria has been forced to borrow.
石油占尼日利亞官方出口的97%。在過去21年里,基準油價一直徘徊在每桶17美元至145美元之間。高油價助長了不負責任的財政政策,比如過度支出、虛榮心強的公共工程、成品油進口補貼、匯率操縱和高度保護主義。在經濟繁榮時期,尼日利亞揮金如土,主辦了2003年非洲運動會等國際賽事。它把錢花在了宏偉的項目上,比如位于新首都阿布賈的Moshood Abiola國家體育場,以及已經發射了五顆衛星的尼日利亞太空計劃。在低油價時期,尼日利亞被迫借貸。
Oil has also been ruinous for the environment. Although progress has been made, there's a long history of less than best practices by international companies, like gas flaring, which contributes significantly to climate change, as well as the environmental disasters caused by bandits who steal oil from pipelines and entrepreneurs who operate illegal (and dangerous) kerosene and diesel refineries and dump their waste product into the land and waterways.
石油也對環境造成了破壞。盡管已經取得了進展, 但是長期以來,國際公司的最佳實踐都不是最好的,比如對氣候變化有重大影響的天然氣燃除,還有盜賊從輸油管道偷油、企業家非法經營(危險的)煤油和柴油精煉廠并將其廢棄物傾倒到土地和水道中所造成的環境災難。。
Another Economic Miracle?
另一個經濟奇跡?
OK, here's the shocker. Despite the violence and the red tape and the greed, Nigeria's economic success could match China's. The country could finally live up to its huge potential. And it has the same route to success as China: the economy. That seems almost unthinkable. But it's only because the China we know is the China of 2019. Few of us remember the sleepy panda that was China 40 years ago. We've now seen five East Asian economic miracles, so it's easy to position China as part of a trend. It's hard to imagine an African economic miracle because none of us has ever seen one.
好吧,有個令人震驚的消息。盡管有暴力、繁文縟節和貪婪,尼日利亞的經濟成功可以與中國匹敵。這個國家終于可以發揮其巨大的潛力了。它的成功之路與中國相同:經濟。這幾乎是不可想象的。但這只是因為我們知道的中國是2019年的中國。我們中很少有人記得40年前中國的熊貓。我們現在已經看到了東亞的五個經濟奇跡,所以很容易將中國定位為趨勢的一部分。很難想象非洲會出現經濟奇跡,因為我們都沒見過。
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