Policymakers need to ensure that economic remedies do not ruin the future recovery.
政策立案者は経済救済措置が将来の回復をだいなしにすることが決してないようにする必要がある。
Quantitative easing could stoke inflation in the years to come
量的緩和は来る何年もの間、インフレを煽る可能性がある。
At the lowest point of the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes insisted:
大恐慌どん底の次期、ジョンメイナードケインズ氏は
“The voices which... tell us that the path of escape is to be found in strict economy and in refraining, wherever possible, from utilising the world's potential production are the voices of fools and madmen.”
There is a consequent risk that a succession of ad hoc initiatives will do little to ameliorate the crisis but will none the less store up future problems.
Yet last week Alistair Darling denied that the Government was considering so-called “quantitative easing” - boosting the money supply by buying up assets.
He may have been worried about the political message given to savers; but in truth savers will do well if inflation decelerates sharply and even turns negative.
In normal economic times, printing money is a recipe for inflation.
経済が通常の状況では紙幣増刷はインフレの素であるが、
If left unchecked - as under a weak government, such as in Weimar Germany, or a bad one, such as in present-day Zimbabwe - it debases the currency utterly.
Unfortunately the UK Government's credibility among international investors has been damaged.
残念ながら、英国政府への国際的な投資家達の間での信用は損なわれてしまっている。
Recent exchange-rate volatility partly reflects concerns about the deterioration in public finances.
最近の為替レートの不安定さはある部分で国家財政崩壊に対する懸念を反映するものだ。
Markets are not convinced that the Government's expansion of borrowing will be offset by tax rises once the economy recovers.
市場は、政府の借り入れ拡大も一旦景気が回復すれば増税でちゃらにできるという話には納得していない。
If the Government considers quantitative easing, this will spark apprehension that the UK might seek to ease the public and private debt burden by tolerating higher inflation. Currency volatility might give way to a concerted run on the pound.
The deflation of a credit bubble has inflicted immense damage on the economy and the financial system.
信用バブルによるデフレによって経済と金融システムは甚大な損害を被った。
In these extraordinary circumstances, it is entirely appropriate that the Treasury and the Bank explore extraordinary measures.
これらの非常事態において、大蔵省と英国中央銀行が非常手段をとろうとしたことは全く適切なことである。
But “printing money” - or, more accurately, quantitative easing - will not of itself address the paralysis in the banking industry and the chronic shortage of credit.
Bankers need to recover confidence in their balance sheets, their counterparts and their customers.
銀行は自らの、そして外国の銀行や取引先の貸借対照表に対する信用を取り戻すことが必要である。
When that finally happens, the British economy will start on the journey of recovery: policymakers need to beware steps that stoke inflation, further weaken sterling and choke that future success. それが実現してようやく、英国経済は回復の途につくであろう。政策立案者はインフレを煽ってポンド安を推しすすめ将来における成功の目を摘んでしまわないように用心する必要がある。