The US is starting to pare back its emergency support for banks and financial markets, its Treasury secretary Tim Geithner declared yesterday, taking the first step towards unwinding policies that have propped up America's battered financial system.

美国财长蒂姆·盖特纳(Tim Geithner)昨日宣布，美国政府已开始削减其对银行和金融市场的紧急支持力度，从而向收回支持了美国受重创金融体系的各项政策迈出了第一步。

Almost a year to the day since the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a panic that tipped the US and much of the world into recession, Mr Geithner said it was time to move from crisis response to recovery.

在雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒闭引发恐慌、进而令美国及世界大多数国家陷入衰退一周年之际，盖特纳表示，从应对危机转向着眼复苏的时机已经到来。

Pointing to evidence of a healing in financial markets, which only a few months ago had been paralysed by a retreat from risk and banks' reluctance to lend to each other, Mr Geithner said the US would allow its guarantee for the $2,500bn money market mutual fund industry to expire on schedule later this month.

盖特纳指出，金融市场已出现好转迹象，而就在几个月前，避险情绪和银行不愿相互放贷还曾令金融市场处于瘫痪状态。盖特纳表示，美国政府将允许其对货币市场共同基金的2.5万亿美元担保，按原定期限在本月晚些时候失效。

He also backed a review by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that is likely to lead to funding guarantees for banks either ending completely or being restricted to emergency cases.

他还支持美国联邦存款保险公司(FDIC)的一项评估。这项评估可能导致政府对各银行的融资担保要么彻底结束，要么仅在紧急情况下提供。

“As we enter this new phase we must begin winding down some of the extraordinary support we put in place for the financial system,” said Mr Geithner, who said the improvement in markets was in large part due to the actions taken by the Obama administration.

盖特纳表示：“在我们步入这个新阶段之际，我们必须开始撤销过去实施的一些不寻常的支持金融体系的措施。”他表示，市场的好转在很大程度上要归功于奥巴马政府的行动。

The Treasury secretary made no mention of an “exit strategy” from fiscal and monetary stimulus. Instead, he said “we must continue reinforcing recovery until it is self-sustaining and led by private demand” and vowed not to “put on the brakes too early”.

盖特纳没有提及财政和货币政策刺激的“退出策略”，而是表示，“我们必须继续强化复苏态势，直到复苏能够自我维系，并由私人需求带动。”他誓言不会“过早踩下刹车”。

Nonetheless, the timing of the strategic shift towards pulling back support for financial markets is symbolic. The money fund guarantees were put in place immediately after the Lehman collapse to stop a run on the sector triggered by losses at the Reserve Primary fund, which had invested in Lehman debt.

尽管如此，撤回对金融市场的支持这一战略调整的时机具有象征意义。雷曼倒闭后，美国政府立即启动了对货币市场基金的担保，以阻止Reserve Primary fund的亏损在全行业引发挤兑。Reserve Primary fund此前投资于雷曼债务。

Mr Geithner said the flow of government capital into the big US banks had reversed, with banks repaying more than $70bn in emergency bailout funds. “We now estimate that banks will repay another $50bn over the next 12 to 18 months,” he said. He said the size of Federal Reserve emergency loan programmes had greatly diminished, with the Fed's commercial paper funding facility down 87 per cent from its peak, and its cash auction scheme down 57 per cent.

盖特纳表示，政府与美国大型银行之间的资金流向已经逆转，银行已经偿还了逾700亿美元的紧急纾困资金。他表示：“我们目前估计，银行将在未来12到18个月再偿还500亿美元。”他指出，美联储紧急贷款计划的规模已显著减小，其中美联储的商业票据融资安排额已自峰值下降87%，现金拍卖计划规模也已减小57%。

A senior Treasury official said the administration wanted to “reduce our footprint in various areas of the markets” but did not intend to cut off all support overnight.

美国财政部一名高层官员表示，奥巴马政府希望“减小我们对市场各个领域的干预程度”，但不打算立即撤销所有支持措施。

译者/章晴