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The world this week--Business
本周國際要聞——商業
America’s annual rate of inflation as measured by the official consumer-price index jumped again in March to 8.5%, from 7.9% in February.
以官方消費者價格指數衡量，美國3月份的年通脹率從2月份的7.9%再次躍升至8.5%。
Inflation is being fuelled by surging energy and commodity prices.
能源和大宗商品價格的飆升正在推高通脹。
There may be some respite for consumers this month as oil prices have fallen back recently, in part because of weaker demand in China.
由于近期油價回落，本月消費者可能會得到一些喘息之機，部分原因是中國需求減弱。
Brent crude is trading around $100 to $105 a barrel having hurtled towards $140 in early March.
布倫特原油目前的交易價格約為每桶100美元至105美元，3月初曾飆升至每桶140美元。
Petrol prices rose by 18% in America last month, but have been in retreat in April.
上個月，美國的汽油價格上漲了18%，但在4月份有所回落。
Britain’s annual inflation rate rose to 7%.
英國的年通貨膨脹率上升到7%。
Responding to “rising inflation expectations”, New Zealand’s central bank lifted its main interest rate by half a percentage point, to 1.5%.
為了應對“日益高漲的通脹預期”，新西蘭中央銀行將其主要利率上調了0.5個百分點，至1.5%。
The Federal Reserve may raise rates by the same amount next month.
美聯儲可能在下個月提高同等利率。
Global food prices hit a new high, according to an index from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
根據聯合國糧食及農業組織的一項指數，全球食品價格創下新高。
The war in Ukraine has amplified existing supply strains, such as crop conditions in America.
烏克蘭戰爭加劇了現有的供應緊張，比如美國的作物狀況。
Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of the world’s wheat exports and 20% of maize (corn).
俄羅斯和烏克蘭占世界小麥出口的30%，玉米出口的20%。
The price of both staples soared by close to 20% in March.
這兩種主要商品的價格在3月份飆升了近20%。
Higher prices for sunflower seed oil, of which Ukraine is the biggest exporter, have pushed up the prices of palm, soya and rapeseed oil.
葵花籽油(烏克蘭是葵花籽油的最大出口國)價格上漲，推高了棕櫚油、大豆油和菜籽油的價格。
The World Bank forecast that Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45% this year because of Russia’s invasion.
世界銀行預測，由于俄羅斯的入侵，烏克蘭經濟今年將萎縮45%。
Half of the country’s businesses are closed and others are struggling.
該國一半的企業倒閉，其他企業則在苦苦掙扎。
Russian GDP is set to contract by 11%.
俄羅斯國內生產總值預計將萎縮11%。
Russia’s central bank unexpectedly cut its main interest rate to 17%, having doubled it to 20% at the start of the war.
俄羅斯中央銀行出人意料地將其主要利率降至17%，而在戰爭開始時，其利率已翻倍至20%。
It now thinks the rouble has sufficiently recovered from its rout in the markets to lessen the threat of a spike in inflation.
該機構現在認為，盧布已經從市場的暴跌中充分恢復過來，從而減輕了通脹飆升的威脅。
It also lifted one of its temporary capital controls by allowing people to buy cash foreign currencies again.
該機構還取消了一項臨時資本管制措施，允許人們再次購買現金外幣。
Societe Generale decided to sell Rosbank, a big Russian firm it owns, joining a long list of companies to leave Russia.
法國興業銀行決定出售其所有的俄羅斯大公司羅斯銀行，加入了一長串離開俄羅斯的公司的行列。
The French bank is one of several Western companies with a serious presence in Russia’s financial industry.
這家法國銀行是在俄羅斯金融業占有重要地位的幾家西方公司之一。
It is selling the assets to Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s richest man, who is not subject to sanctions by America, Britain or the EU, though Canada recently added him to its list.
這家銀行正將這些資產出售給俄羅斯首富弗拉基米爾·波塔寧。盡管加拿大最近將他列入制裁名單，但波塔寧并未受到美國、英國或歐盟的制裁。
Elon Musk flashed his mercurial side by declining a seat on Twitter’s board, days after he was offered one.
埃隆·馬斯克展示了自己善變的一面，在獲得Twitter董事會席位幾天后，他拒絕了這個席位。
He also deleted a number of sarcastic tweets that he had posted about the company, including one that suggested it dropped the “w” from Twitter.
他還刪除了一些他發布的關于該公司的諷刺推文，包括一條暗示該公司刪除了Twitter的“w”。
Parag Agrawal, the chief executive, didn’t give a reason for Mr Musk’s change of mind, but said, “I believe this is for the best.”
首席執行官帕拉格·阿格拉沃爾沒有說明馬斯克改變主意的原因，但表示:“我相信這是最好的選擇。”
Tesla’s boss has amassed a 9.2% stake in the social-media platform.
特斯拉的老板已經積累了這家社交媒體平臺9.2%的股份。
