Top Federal Reserve officials were careful to be seen to be understanding of the plight of lesser central banks during the International Monetary Fund’s meetings in Washington last month. But they may have unintentionally made things worse. By confirming their reluctance to assume greater international commitments, they underlined the divide between central banks that have access to the Fed’s dollar swap facility and those that do not – or, between those with and without a Fed backstop.
上月,國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)和世界銀行(World Bank)年會在華盛頓召開。盡管美聯儲(Fed)高官在會議上小心謹慎地表明自己對較小央行所處的困境了然于胸,但他們可能無意中使情況變得更加糟糕了。通過確認自己不愿承擔更多的國際責任,他們讓大家深刻認識到了兩類央行之間的不同:一類是能求助美聯儲美元互換安排的,另一類是不能求助的——換句話說,一類有美聯儲作最終擔保,另一類沒有。