Too little help from their friends

能從朋友那得到的幫助實(shí)在是太少

The response from richer governments and international institutions has been patchy. The IMF?has disbursed over $30bn in emergency financing to 76 countries since March. It has acted fast, but the sum is far from enough. Earlier this year African finance ministers got together and calculated that African countries alone will suffer a short-term funding gap of $100bn in 2020, rising to $200bn next year.

富裕國家政府和國際機(jī)構(gòu)的反應(yīng)一直不一致。自今年3月以來，國際貨幣基金組織已經(jīng)向76個(gè)國家提供了300億美元的緊急融資。這一行動(dòng)迅速，但所提供的總額還遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠。今年早些時(shí)候，非洲各國財(cái)長聚在一起計(jì)算，到2020年，僅非洲國家就將面臨1000億美元的短期融資缺口，明年這將升至2000億美元。

詞匯

Patchy/零散的；散落的；不一致的

?

The G20 has agreed to suspend payments between May and December on bilateral debt from 73 of the world’s poorest countries, if they want such help. That is a fraction of the $31.5bn in external debt servicing they face in that period. So far just 42 countries have requested support, which would free up $5.3bn for them to spend on things like health care and welfare programmes. The scheme doesn’t touch commercial lending from banks or bondholders. Nor does it include Asian countries such as India and the Philippines, where many of the newly destitute reside.

20國集團(tuán)已經(jīng)同意，如果世界上73個(gè)最貧窮的國家需要這樣的幫助，將在5月到12月間暫停他們的雙邊債務(wù)支付事項(xiàng)。這與他們在此期間所面臨的315億美元外債還本付息相比，只是九牛一毛。迄今為止，只有42個(gè)國家請求援助，這將使它們獲得53億美元資金，用于醫(yī)療和福利項(xiàng)目等方面。該計(jì)劃不涉及銀行或債券持有人的商業(yè)貸款。這也不包括許多新貧困者所居住的印度和菲律賓等亞洲國家

詞匯

Bilateral/雙邊的；有兩邊的

Fraction/小部分；少量；一點(diǎn)兒

free up /開放（市場、經(jīng)濟(jì)或體制）

Destitute/赤貧者（帶有一貧如洗那種意思的貧困）

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Politicians in poor countries, shackled by debt, will struggle to provide meaningful support. The pandemic has shown how flimsy recent progress has been, says Andrew Sumner of King’s College London. He reckons that the proportion of people in poor countries living on less than $1.90 a day had fallen last year to 17%. But a third were still living on less than $3.20 a day. Covid-19 has exposed the vulnerability of that group—the poor but not destitute—in the face of a big economic shock. Policymakers must now help people climb back above the poverty line—and devise ways to make them more resilient to future shocks.

貧窮國家的政客們被債務(wù)束縛，將難以提供有意義的支持。倫敦大學(xué)國王學(xué)院的Andrew Sumner 說，疫情顯示了最近的進(jìn)展是多么的微薄。他估計(jì)，貧困國家中每天生活費(fèi)低于1.90美元的人口比例去年已下降到17%。但依舊有三分之一的人每天的生活費(fèi)還不到3.20美元。新冠暴露了這個(gè)群體（貧困人口）的脆弱性——窮人但不是赤貧者——面對巨大的經(jīng)濟(jì)沖擊。決策者現(xiàn)在必須幫助人們重新脫貧——并設(shè)計(jì)出方法使他們更能適應(yīng)未來的沖擊。

詞匯

Shackle/ 束縛；加枷鎖

Flimsy/脆弱的；淺薄的

resilient /彈回的；能復(fù)原的