海外之声 | 拉加德：一带一路——实现金融互联互通的关键渠道
导读
“一带一路”倡议以共同打造经济融合、文化包容的利益共同体、命运共同体为出发点，为经济全球化、世界各国携手前进不断赋能。在未来，实现各地区间更好更快捷的物质与经济联系将成为一项重要任务，而历史告诉我们，物质进步与经济发展的联系是密不可分的。在“一带一路”建设过程中，及时有效的资金融通对加快具体项目落地同样发挥了重要作用，强化地区间金融服务互联互通尤为重要。
实现金融互联互通需要增强资本流动性和提升金融包容性。首先，更加自由的资本跨境流动可以降低融资成本，提高金融部门的效率；更加开放的证券市场更是加快了人民币国际化的步伐。研究表明，发展中国家GDP中的外资直接投资占比仅为1.9%，资本流动性亟需提高。
其次是加强金融包容性，助力普惠金融。在发展中经济体，存在不少还未释放全部经济潜力的女性以及因缺乏贷款资金而止步不前的小企业，通过金融互联互通能够提高这部分群体的金融满足度，使得经济增速更加强劲持久。现代金融图景揭示了各国金融互联的巨大潜力，其释放出的能量将有助于建设更加繁荣，更具包容性的经济体系，助力“一带一路”互利共赢。
作者 | 克里斯蒂娜·拉加德（Christine Lagarde），国际货币基金组织（IMF）总裁
英文原文如下：
Belt and Road Initiative: Two Key Channels to Achieving Financial Connectivity
Speech by Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, at Belt and Road Forum Session on Financial Connectivity, Beijing, 24 April 2019
Governor Yi, Minister Liu, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen — good morning! Zao Shang Hao!
I would like to thank the People’s Bank of China and the Chinese Ministry of Finance for organizing this important event.
As we meet during this beautiful springtime weather it brings to mind the words of the Chinese proverb, “ The whole year must be planned for in the spring.”
Over the next three days we will consider the ways the Belt and Road Initiative — the BRI—can help better connect the world physically and financially for years to come. It is fitting that we begin these conversations with financial connectivity. Why? Because history teaches us that physical and financial connectivity go hand-in-hand.
Think of the original Silk Road. The desire for trade drove merchants to travel thousands of kilometers. Over time, infrastructure in the form of bridges, buildings, and even entire new cities were built to accommodate what began as small trading posts and financial exchanges.
So where there is financial connection, we see that rapid improvements in quality of life can quickly follow.
In our modern context, there are several important channels to achieving this greater financial connectivity. I want to highlight two today: increased capital mobility and increased financial inclusion.
1. Increased Capital Mobility
First, enabling capital to flow more freely.
Allowing capital to flow across borders can help support inclusive growth. How? By enhancing investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, and even health care.
Right now, foreign direct investment —FDI — is only 1.9 percent of GDP in developing countries. Before the global financial crisis, it was at 2.5 percent. Making progress on major infrastructure needs will require capital flows to rise again and to be managed safely.
Greater openness to capital flows can also bring down the cost of finance, improve the efficiency of the financial sector, and allow capital to support productive investments and new jobs.
That is certainly the case here in China, where a further opening of the bond market to foreign investors will enable diversification and foster the internationalization of the Renminbi (RMB).
In fact, the IMF recently published a book on this topic, called “The Future of China’s Bond Market”. It outlines how the inclusion of China’s bonds in global indexes can be a gamechanger not only for China’s own financial markets but also for global investors.
The book also underscores the challenges that come with opening up capital markets. Thankfully, we know from experience the elements that are required for success. These include sound financial regulation, transparent rules for investment, and attention to fiscal sustainability.
On this last point, China’s increased focus on the long-term success of BRI projects, and the announcement today by Finance Minister Liu of a BRI debt sustainability framework, are very welcome steps in the right direction.
So too is the work that is now beginning to ensure that investment in BRI projects is green, low-carbon and climate resilient. This will lead to increased environmental sustainability.
2. Increased Financial Inclusion
We also need increased financial inclusion — my second channel for a more effective BRI.
A few numbers: close to half of the adult popu¬lation in low and middle-income Asia-Pacific economies do not have a bank account. Less than 10 percent have ever borrowed from a financial institution.
And yet, we know that closing the finance gap is an “economic must-have” for nations to thrive in the 21st century. IMF analysis shows that if the least financially inclusive countries in Asia narrowed the finance gap to the level of Thailand — an emerging market economy — the poverty rate in those countries could be reduced by nearly 4 percent.
How can we get there? In part, through policies that enable more women and rural citizens to access financial services. The financial gender gap for women in developing countries is about 9 percent and has remained largely unchanged since 2011.
There is no silver bullet, but we know that fintech can play a catalyzing role.
In Cambodia, for example, strong public-private partnerships in supporting mobile finance has led to a tripling in the number of micro-financial institutions since 2011. These institutions have now provided loans to over 2 million new borrowers, representing nearly 20 percent of the adult population. Many of these citizens had never had a bank account. Now they can save for the future and perhaps even start a business of their own.
These are ideas that can work everywhere. But countries have to be willing to partner and learn from each other.
That is one of the major reasons why last October, the IMF and World Bank launched the Bali Fintech Agenda. The agenda lays out key principles — from developing financial markets to safeguarding financial integrity — that can help each nation as it strives for greater financial inclusion.
It is a model for international collaboration, much like this forum.
Let me conclude.
I began with a Chinese proverb. In the spirit of global connections, I will close with a western poet. The English poet John Donne, who wrote about the Silk Road, was right when he said, “No man (or woman!) is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
Just like our history, our modern financial landscape reveals the enormous potential of better connections between nations and between financial institutions across borders. These financial connections can lead to new construction, new jobs, new opportunities, and, ultimately, the ability to achieve economic security.
If we find ways to harness the potential, we can build more prosperous, inclusive economies that benefit all.
Thank you very much. Xièxiè.
编译 张苏琰
编辑 罗梦宇
文章来源 IMF
审校 田雯
责编 胡晓涛 金天
监制 朱霜霜
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