中国人民银行拟实施"托宾税" 抑制外汇投机活动

China's central bank has drafted rules for a tax on foreign-exchange transactions in a step to stem speculators, according to Bloomberg News.

据彭博社报道，中国人民银行已经草拟了对外汇交易征税的规则，以抑制投机活动。

Known as the "Tobin tax", it is designed to raise the cost for spot currency conversions, and is described by its originator, Nobel-winning economist James Tobin, as "throwing sand in the wheels of speculators". Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the initial rate may be kept at zero to allow authorities to refine the rules.

这种税名为"托宾税"，旨在提高现货外汇交易的成本，是诺贝尔经济学奖得主詹姆斯·托宾提出的，他称"托宾税"是"往投机者的车轮下掷些沙子"。彭博社引用匿名消息人士的话称，初始税率可能为0，以便更好地改善税制。

The People's Bank of China didn't immediately respond to request for comments. Vice-governor Yi Gang has raised the possibility on several previous occasions but did not hint whether it would materialize any time soon.

中国人民银行没有马上对该信息评论做出回应。此前，副行长易纲曾在多个场合提出了可能性，但并未暗示是否这会在短期内实现。

The problem with the "Tobin tax", according to Tommy Ong, managing director for treasury and markets at DBS Hong Kong, is it can't guarantee less volatility in the market since it's difficult to identify if currency trading is due to speculation or the genuine need of companies hedging their foreign-exchange exposure.

香港星展银行财务部及市场部总经理Tommy Ong表示，托宾税的问题在于，它无法保证市场波动将平息，因为很难分辨市场上的外汇交易是投机性行为，还是公司正常对冲风险的需求。

In Hong Kong, the offshore yuan fell 0.12 percent to 6.5189 per dollar on Wednesday. After the worst start to a year in two decades, the yuan has strengthened 1.6 percent since Jan 7.

在香港，周三，离岸人民币下跌百分之0.12至每股6.5189美元。在经历了二十年来最糟糕的开年之后，自1月7日以来，人民币已经升值了百分之1.6。

PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at a Saturday news conference that it is difficult for him to predict movement in the exchange rate, but "despite volatility, calm and normalization always follow a period of turmoil".

央行行长周小川在周六的新闻发布会上表示，对他来说，现在很难预测汇率的波动。尽管会有些波动，但是在动荡时期之后，总会回归平静和常态化的。