VOA慢速英語(yǔ):Pressure in Europe Builds for Banking Reform

[ti:Pressure in Europe Builds for Banking Reform] [ar:Mario Ritter] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.chinavoa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. [00:05.31]Pressure for financial reform is building in Europe. [00:11.29]This week the financial services company [00:14.86]Moody's Investors Service reduced Spain's credit rating. [00:19.49]The rating was cut from A3 to baa3. [00:25.27]That means that Moody's judges the credit risk [00:30.06]of Spanish debt has moved from very low to moderate. [00:35.12]The company said it acted because Spain [00:39.30]is borrowing about one hundred twenty-five billion dollars [00:43.40]in rescue loans for its banks. [00:46.40]Debt markets punished Spain by pushing up the interest rate [00:52.21]on its long-term debt to about six point eight percent. [00:56.46]That increases Spain's borrowing costs [01:00.46]and hurts its already troubled economy. [01:04.16]Spain was not the only country to get downgraded by Moody's. [01:09.69]Cyprus got the same treatment. [01:12.73]On Wednesday, American Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner [01:17.67]spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. [01:22.10]He said the increase in borrowing costs for European countries [01:27.47]like Spain means European officials [01:30.17]must move quickly to avoid growing costs. [01:34.45]TIM GEITHNER: "If you wait to move in these things [01:38.22]and you let the market get ahead of you, [01:41.12]then you increase the costs of the solution [01:44.77]and you make it harder to get there [01:46.47]--you get too much momentum—it's very costly. [01:48.67]Once you decide, there's no argument for doing it slowly." [01:54.41]Germany, Europe's largest economy, has been pushing [01:58.35]for economic reform in the seventeen countries using the euro. [02:03.41]But German Chancellor Angela Merkel has argued that her country [02:08.49]is unwilling to put money at risk unless banking reform [02:13.48]is enacted throughout the Eurozone. [02:16.72]She warned this week that Germany's economic power was not unlimited. [02:24.18]Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed steps [02:29.40]toward a common banking policy. [02:31.97]The proposals include empowering nations to intervene [02:37.16]when their banks are in trouble. [02:39.46]But proposed changes may also bar support for failing banks. [02:45.94]Some European leaders are pressing [02:49.62]for an expanded European bailout fund. [02:52.92]Germany has resisted providing new financial resources. [02:57.72]But details of any deal with big European economies [03:02.43]have yet to be decided. [03:04.89]Europe's financial crisis is likely to be the main issue [03:10.33]at the G-20 economic meeting in Mexico next week. [03:15.66]Secretary Geithner is looking forward to the conference. [03:21.05]TIMOTHY GEITHNER: "you know, the world is waiting for them, [03:24.45]they have a -- they have a big incentive to add as much clarity [03:27.28]to those plans as early as they can." [03:29.88]And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. [03:34.73]For transcripts, MP3s and now PDFs of our programs for e-readers, [03:41.89]go to chinavoa.com. [03:46.24]And follow us on Facebook and iTunes at VOA Learning English. [03:53.28]I'm Mario Ritter.

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