本周國際要聞
Business
經濟
Saudi Arabia said it would cut oil production by another 1m barrels a day from next month, furthering its effort to shore up oil prices. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates swiftly followed with their own reductions. OPEC’s deal with Russia last month, which ended their abrupt price war and made record cuts to output, has done little to increase prices. Brent crude is trading at around $30 a barrel, halfits level in mid-February.
沙特表示，從下個月起，將每日石油產量再削減100萬桶，進一步提振油價。科威特和阿拉伯聯合酋長國緊隨其后，也迅速削減了本國的石油產量。歐佩克上月與俄羅斯達成的協議結束了兩國突然爆發的價格戰，并創紀錄地削減了石油產量，但該協議對油價的上漲作用甚微。布倫特原油目前的價格約為每桶30美元，較2月中旬的水平下降了一半。
Saudi Aramco reported thatits net profit had fallen by 25%, year on year, in the first quarter, to $16.7bn. The state controlled oil company will still pay a shareholder dividend, most of which goes to the Saudi government. With oil revenue sinking, the government is looking at other ways to raise money, and has tripled the kingdom’s value-added tax rate to 15%.
沙特國家石油公司沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)報告稱，今年第一季度，該公司凈利潤同比下降25%，至167億美元。這家國有石油公司仍將向股東派發股息，其中大部分將歸沙特政府所有。隨著石油收入下降，政府開始尋找其他籌資途徑，并將該國的增值稅稅率提高了兩倍，至15%。
America officially lost 20.5m jobs in April. The number for just one month dwarfs the 8.6m jobs that were lost over the whole of 2008 and 2009 during the financial crisis. The unemployment rate has soared to 14.7%, the highest since the second world war. Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, conceded that it could hit 25% in the coming months, a level last seen during the Depression.
4月份，美國官方公布的失業人數為2050萬。僅一個月的失業人數就超過了2008年和2009年金融危機期間失去的860萬個工作崗位。失業率飆升至14.7%，是二戰以來的最高水平。財政部長史蒂芬·姆努欽(Steven Mnuchin)承認，未來幾個月失業率可能會達到25%，這是大蕭條時期的最高水平。
Stock markets took fright after Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned that more stimulus from Congress will be required. The Democrats have proposed an extra $3trn in spending, though their plan is not supported by Republicans.
美聯儲委員會主席杰羅姆·鮑威爾(Jerome Powell)警告稱，國會將出臺更多刺激措施，股市因此受到驚嚇。民主黨已經提議增加3萬億美元的支出，盡管他們的計劃并未得到共和黨的支持。
Despite avoiding a prolonged lockdown, the South Korean economy shed almost half a million jobs in April, the most since 1999 at the tail end of the Asian financial crisis. The pandemic has created a “wartime situation” in the economy, said the country’s president, Moon Jae-in.
盡管沒有實施長時間的封鎖措施，4月份的韓國經濟還是減少了近50萬個工作崗位，這是自1999年亞洲金融危機結束以來最多的一次。韓國總統文在寅表示，大流行導致韓國經濟出現了“戰時局面”。
Britain’s economy was 2% smaller in the first quarter than in the previous three months, the fastest rate of contraction since the global financial crisis of 2007-09. However, the figure only captured a glimpse of the chaos caused by COVID-19.
英國經濟第一季度比前三個月萎縮了2%，這是自2007-09年全球金融危機以來萎縮速度最快的一次。然而，這些數據僅僅是初步反映了疫情帶來的影響。
Britain’s lockdown began in late March; the economy was 5.8% smaller in that month than it was in February. Forecasters think the economy could shrink by 20-30% in the second quarter. A study by academics at the London Business School found that household spending has plunged by 40-50% during the crisis.
英國的封鎖始于三月下旬;當月的經濟規模比2月份萎縮了5.8%。預測者認為，第二季度的經濟可能會萎縮20-30%。倫敦商學院(London Business School)學者的一項研究發現，危機期間的家庭支出下降了40-50%。
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