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Interesting times
有趣的利率时代
On March 19th officials at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced that, with sustainable inflation of 2% “in sight”, they would scrap a suite of measures instituted to pull the economy out of its deflationary doldrums—marking the end of a radical experiment.
3月19日，日本央行的官员宣布，随着2%的可持续通胀率“近在眼前”，将取消一系列旨在将经济从通货紧缩的低迷状态中拉出来的措施，这标志着一项激进实验的结束。
The bank raised its interest-rate target on overnight loans for the first time since 2007, from between minus 0.1% and zero to between zero and 0.1%, becoming the last central bank to scrap its negative-interest-rate policy.
日本央行自2007年以来首次上调隔夜贷款利率目标，从负0.1%—0上调到0—0.1%，成为最后一家取消负利率政策的央行。
It will also stop buying exchange-traded funds and abolish its yield-curve-control framework, a tool to cap long-term bond yields.
日本央行还将停止购买交易所交易的基金，并废除其收益率曲线控制框架（一种限制长期债券收益率的工具）。
Even so, the BOJ stressed that its stance would remain accommodative: the withdrawal of its most unconventional policies does not augur the beginning of a tightening cycle.
即便如此，日本央行强调其立场仍将保持宽松：最为非常规政策的退出并不预示着紧缩周期的开始。
This shift reflects changes in the underlying condition of the Japanese economy. Inflation has been above the bank’s 2% target for 22 months.
这一转变反映了日本经济底层情况的变化。22个月来，通货膨胀率一直高于银行2%的目标。
Recent annual negotiations between trade unions and large companies suggest wage growth of more than 5% for the first time in 33 years.
最近工会和大公司之间的年度谈判表明，工资增长将在33年来首次超过5%。
“The BOJ has confirmed what many people have been suspecting: the Japanese economy has changed, it has gotten out of deflation,” says Hoshi Takeo of the University of Tokyo.
“日本央行证实了许多人一直在怀疑的事情：日本经济已经发生了变化，已经摆脱了通货紧缩。”东京大学的竹尾保志说。
That hardly means Japan is booming—consumption is weak and growth is anaemic. But the economy no longer requires an entire armoury of policies designed to raise inflation.
这并不意味着日本步入了繁荣：日本的消费依然疲软，增长依然乏力。但日本经济不再需要一整套提高通胀率的政策。
When Ueda Kazuo, the BOJ’s governor, was asked what he would call his new framework, he said it did not require a special name. It was “normal” monetary policy.
当日本央行行长植田和男被问及他将如何命名这一新的政策框架时，他说不需要一个特殊的名称。这就是“正常”的货币政策。
Japan’s economy slid into deflation in the 1990s, following the bursting of an asset bubble and the failure of several financial institutions. The BOJ began trying new tools, cautiously at first.
日本经历了资产泡沫破裂、数家金融机构倒闭后，经济在20世纪90年代陷入通货紧缩。于是日本央行开始尝试新的工具，一开始是谨慎地使用。
Although in 1999 the bank cut interest rates to zero, it raised them the next year, only to see prices fall again (one of two board members opposed to the decision at the time was Mr Ueda).
虽然1999年日本央行将利率降至零，但第二年又提高了利率，结果是价格再次下跌（当时强烈反对提高利率的两名董事之一就是植田）。
The BOJ then went further, becoming the first post-war central bank to implement quantitative easing—the buying of bonds with newly created money—in 2001.
日本央行随后采取了进一步的措施，在2001年成为二战后第一个实施量化宽松政策的央行，量化宽松即用新印的钱购买债券。
