The mounting level of debt in the industrialised world is prompting a growing number of investors to use the derivatives market to bet on the chance of rich governments defaulting on bonds.

发达国家不断增长的债务水平，正促使越来越多的投资者通过衍生品市场，押注于富国政府债券违约的可能性。

The volume of activity in sovereign credit default swaps – which measure the cost to insure against bond defaults – linked to the US, UK and Japan have doubled in the past year due to concerns about their public finances.

过去一年，与美国、英国和日本相关的主权信贷违约互换（衡量对象是债券违约担保成本）的成交量增长了一倍，原因在于市场担忧这些国家的公共财政状况。

CDS volumes for Italy, which has one of the highest debt burdens of the developed economies, are now the highest for an individual country, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.

根据美国存托和清算公司(Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation)的数据，以国别计算，目前意大利信贷违约互换(CDS)的成交量最高，该国是发达经济体中债务负担最大的国家之一。

In contrast, the outstanding volume of CDS linked to emerging nations such as Russia, Brazil, Ukraine and Indonesia have been flat or fallen in the past 12 months as investors have become less interested in trading the risks of those countries.

相比之下，过去12个月，与俄罗斯、巴西、乌克兰和印度尼西亚相关的CDS交易量持平或有所下降，因为投资者对于交易这些国家风险的兴趣有所减弱。

In the past, the CDS market for developed countries was sluggish, because few investors saw the need to buy or sell protection against a risk of default that seemed exceedingly remote.

以往，发达国家CDS市场较为萧条，因为几乎没有投资者认为，自己有必要购买或出售针对一种可能性极小的违约的保险。

However, rising debt levels and growing political and economic uncertainty has created a more active market, with more investors now seeking insurance. Meanwhile, many banks are prepared to offer protection in exchange for a fee.

然而，债务水平的不断上升，以及政治和经济方面越来越大的不确定性，使得市场活跃起来，目前有更多的投资者寻求保险。与此同时，许多银行准备提供这种保险以赚取费用。

This fee has recently jumped, since the cost to insure the debt of developed countries has increased since the summer of last year, while the cost of insuring emerging market debt has fallen.

近来这种费用大幅飙升，原因是自去年夏季以来，针对发达国家债务的保险成本有所上升，而针对新兴市场债务的保险成本有所下降。

译者/怀川