A surge in demand by ailing commodity exporters in the developing world has pushed up lending from the World Bank this year to its highest levels since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

发展中世界陷入困境的大宗商品出口国的借款需求飙升，使得世界银行(World Bank)今年发放的贷款创下2008年金融危机结束以后的最高水平。

Finance ministers and central bankers from around the world are due to gather in Washington this week for the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The latter is widely expected on Tuesday to downgrade its 3.4 per cent global growth forecast for this year.

世界各国的财政部长和央行行长们将于本周出席于华盛顿召开的世界银行和国际货币基金组织(IMF)的春季会议。外界普遍预期，IMF将于周二下调对于今年全球增长3.4%的预期。

But alongside scheduled discussions on everything from slowing emerging economies to tax havens, officials at the World Bank will be dealing with an increase in requests for loans from commodity exporters such as Indonesia, Nigeria and Peru as they struggle to cope with the effects of the collapse in global commodity prices.

但除了新兴经济体增长放缓和避税港等议程之内的讨论以外，世行的官员们还将商议印尼、尼日利亚和秘鲁等大宗商品出口国贷款请求增加的问题。这些国家正在艰难应对全球大宗商品价格暴跌带来的影响。

In the fiscal year to June, the bank is on pace to lend $25bn-$30bn via its main lending arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank’s top two officials said in an interview with the Financial Times. That would be most the IBRD has loaned to member countries since the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, which in 2010 caused the bank to lend $44.2bn.

世行的两位高官在接受英国《金融时报》采访时表示，在截止今年6月的财年里，该行将通过其主要放贷机构——国际复兴开发银行(IBRD)发放250亿美元至300亿美元的贷款。这将是IBRD自2008年的金融危机结束以后向其成员国发放的最多数额的贷款——金融危机的余波在2010年促使该行发放了442亿美元贷款。

“It is our highest lending in a non-crisis period ever,” said Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank’s president, who has begun a push for an increase in the bank’s capital driven in part by the rising demand for aid.

世行行长金墉(Jim Yong Kim)表示：“这是我们有史以来在非危机时期发放的最高数额的贷款。”金墉开始推动增加世行资本，这在一定程度上是因为援助需求不断增长。

Part of the surge in lending, Mr Kim said, was because of increasing requests to help with crises ranging from Ebola to the exodus of millions of people from Syria and other conflict-affected countries, as well as longer-term responses to things like climate change.

金墉表示，贷款飙升一定程度上是因为请求援助的情况增加，以应对各种危机——从埃博拉病毒到数百万人逃离叙利亚和其他遭受冲突的国家——以及对气候变化等问题的长期回应。

But almost half of this year’s lending — about 45 per cent — would come in the form of what the World Bank called “development policy lending”, or lending directly to national budgets that is not tied to specific physical projects, said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the bank’s chief operating officer.

但世行首席运营官斯莉•穆尔雅妮•英德拉瓦蒂(Sri Mulyani Indrawati)表示，在今年发放的贷款中，近乎半数（约45%）将以世行所称的“发展政策贷款”的形式发放，即直接贷款给国家预算，与具体实际项目无关。

Demand for such loans is growing as the collapse in oil and other commodity prices has left yawning budget gaps in countries such as Nigeria. Africa’s top exporter is in increasingly dire economic straits and has turned to the bank to help it plug what is expected to be an $11bn budget deficit this year.

随着石油和其他大宗商品价格暴跌导致尼日利亚等国预算缺口扩大，此类贷款需求逐步增长。非洲最大出口国的经济形势日益严峻，已向世行求助，以补足今年预计达到110亿美元的预算赤字。

Such lending has prompted criticism that the World Bank is at risk of encroaching on the IMF’s crisis-response role, and that it is in effect enabling governments to avoid making the tough political decision to turn to the IMF for assistance.

此类贷款引发外界批评，认为世行可能侵蚀IMF的危机回应角色，它实际上让各国政府避免做出向IMF寻求援助的艰难政治决定。

There is some evidence that lending by the bank has helped governments at least delay an approach to the fund, whose rescues often come with demands for reforms attached and carry stigma for countries.

有证据显示，世行提供的贷款至少帮助各国政府推迟向IMF寻求援助，后者的纾困往往附带改革要求，并让受援国背上不好的名声。

Angola last week requested an IMF emergency loan, marking the second time in less than seven years that it has turned to the fund. Yet that move came just nine months after it received a $650m budget-support package from the World Bank, and after it had spent years garnering financial support from China to avoid a return to the fund.

上周，安哥拉向IMF请求紧急贷款，这是不到7年内该国第二次向IMF求助。然而，就在9个月前，安哥拉刚刚从世行收到6.5亿美元的预算支持贷款，而且该国曾花费多年时间争取获得中国财政支持，以避免再次向IMF求助。

Both Mr Kim and Mrs Sri Mulyani denied that the World Bank was seeking to infringe on the IMF’s territory. The bank’s lending, they said, also came with plenty of requirements for reforms and in consultation with the IMF.

金墉和斯莉•穆尔雅妮都否认世行寻求侵犯IMF的“地盘”。他们表示，世行的贷款同样附带大量改革要求，并征询IMF意见。

“I think you would be hard-pressed to find a country that sees us as an easy mark compared to the IMF,” said Mr Kim.

金墉表示：“有哪个国家会认为我们与IMF相比容易上当受骗？我想你们是很难找到的。”

The surge in demand highlighted the need for the World Bank’s shareholders to consider giving it more resources, said Mr Kim. During the past two years the bank has already cut its cost base by $400m and has found new ways to leverage its existing equity. Still, it needed more ammunition, he said.

金墉表示，借款需求飙升突显世行股东有必要考虑向世行提供更多资源。过去两年中，世行将成本基础削减了4亿美元，而且找到了多种利用现有股本的新方法。然而，他表示，世行还需要更多“弹药”。

Shareholders are building up to the regular replenishment later this year of the World Bank’s fund for lending to poor countries. That would be followed by a bigger discussion, which would climax next year, over the World Bank’s capital structure, said Mr Kim.

股东们将在今年晚些时候增加提供定期补充资金，以扩充世行用于向穷国放贷的资金。金墉表示，在这之后可能进行一场更大范围的讨论，围绕世行的资本结构展开，并在明年达到高潮。