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France’s political and business establishment has hit out against the hegemony of the dollar in international transactions following a $9bn fine handed out by US authorities to BNP Paribas for helping countries such as Sudan avoid US sanctions.
法国政界和商界人士抨击美元在国际交易中的支配地位。此前，美国当局以法国巴黎银行(BNP Paribas)帮助苏丹等国家逃避美国制裁为由，对其处以90亿美元罚款。
In an interview with the Financial Times, Michel Sapin, the French finance minister, called for a “rebalancing” of the currencies used for global payments, saying that the BNP Paribas case should “make us realise the necessity of using a variety of currencies”.
法国财政部长米歇尔•萨潘(Michel Sapin)在接受英国《金融时报》采访时，呼吁对国际支付中使用的货币进行“再平衡”。萨潘还表示，法国巴黎银行受罚应该“促使我们意识到有必要使用多种货币”。
“We [Europeans] are selling to ourselves in dollars, for instance when we sell planes. Is that necessary? I don’t think so,” he said on the sidelines of a weekend economics conference.
他在周末的一个经济会议间隙表示，“我们（欧洲国家）在相互出售飞机等商品时也用美元结算。这有必要吗？我不觉得必要”。
“A rebalancing is possible and necessary, not just regarding the euro but also for the big currencies of the emerging countries, which account for more and more of global trade.”
“再平衡既是可能的，也是必要的，不仅是就欧元而言，对于新兴国家中的主要货币也是如此。后者在全球贸易中所占比例越来越大。”
Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of Total, France’s largest company by market capitalisation, said he saw no reason for oil purchases to be made in dollars, even if the benchmark price in dollars was likely to remain.
法国市值最大的公司道达尔(Total)首席执行官马哲睿(Christophe de Margerie)表示，他觉得即便基准价格很可能继续采用美元，但石油采购没有理由一定要用美元。
“The price of a barrel of oil is quoted in dollars,” he said. “A refinery can take that price and using the euro-dollar exchange rate on any given day, agree to make the payment in euros.”
他说：“即便油价以美元报价，炼油厂也能根据那个价格，在任何日子使用欧元兑美元的汇率，同意以欧元支付。”
One chief executive of a CAC 40 industrial group said he supported Mr Sapin’s push. “Companies like ours are in a bind because we sell a lot in dollars, but we do not always want to deal with all the US rules and regulations,” he said.
身为法国CAC40指数成分股的某工业公司的首席执行官表示，他支持萨潘的呼吁。他说：“比如我们公司就处于一种困境，因为我们以美元出售很多东西，但我们未必总希望对付繁杂的美国监管规定。”
The uproar over the BNP fine at the usually sedate Cercle des Economistes conference in Aix-en-Provence highlighted what has become yet another friction point in transatlantic relations.
在普罗旺斯地区艾克斯举行的年度经济学家会议(Cercle des Economistes)一反往年的平静，各方就法国巴黎银行被罚一事展开热烈辩论。这凸显出跨大西洋关系中的又一个摩擦点。
French officials lobbied heavily on behalf of the country’s largest bank and argued BNP broke no European rules, prompting a debate about whether it had been the victim of US judicial over-reach.
法国官员曾努力为该国最大银行游说，辩称法国巴黎银行并没有触犯欧洲的任何规则，这引发了一场辩论，焦点是该行是否成为了美国在司法管辖方面把手伸得太长的受害者。
Mr Sapin said he would raise the need for a weightier alternative to the dollar with fellow euro-area finance ministers when they meet in Brussels today. He declined to go into detail about what practical steps might be taken.
萨潘表示，今日在布鲁塞尔同欧元区其他国家的财长开会时，他将提出需要一种更有份量的方案来替代美元。他拒绝透露具体可能会采取哪些措施。
More than half of cross-border loans and deposits are transacted in dollars, and in the last global survey of the $5tn a day foreign exchange market, the dollar was on one side of 87 per cent of all trades.
逾一半跨境贷款和存款以美元交易，而最近一次全球调查显示，在每日交易量达5万亿美元的外汇市场，有87%的交易以美元为交易对象。
Despite recent efforts to diversify, many central banks say that they still see no real alternative to the safety and liquidity of the US Treasury market, and hold more than 60 per cent of their reserves in dollars.
尽管近来采取了一些旨在实现多元化的举措，但许多央行表示，它们仍未找到能够真正在安全和流动性方面替代美国国债市场的产品，它们的外汇储备中仍有60%以上是美元资产。
A senior French official cast doubt on the government’s ability to stimulate the further use of the euro in international trade: “In the end it is hard to know what they can really do. The market really decides these things.”
一位法国高官对政府能否推动在国际贸易中更多使用欧元表示怀疑：“最终而言，很难想象他们到底能做些什么。这些事其实是由市场决定的。”
