背景介绍：
如何建立全球货币
India is the latest country to try. Painful reforms are required
印度是最新做出这一尝试的国家。需要经受改革之痛
Seventy years ago the Indian rupee was often found a long way from home. After India gained independence from Britain, the currency remained in use in sheikhdoms across the Arabian Sea. Until as late as 1970, some employed the Gulf rupee, a currency issued by India’s central bank.
70年前，印度卢比经常在远离家乡的地方出现。印度从英国获得独立后，阿拉伯海对岸的酋长国仍在使用这种货币。直到20世纪70年代末，一些国家还在使用印度中央银行发行的海湾卢比。
Today the picture is rather different. The rupee accounts for less than 2% of international-currency transactions, even though the Indian economy is the world’s fifth-largest.
但如今情况大不相同。尽管印度是世界第五大经济体，但卢比在国际货币交易中的占比却不到 2%。
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, would like to see the currency span the globe once again. Speaking at the 90th anniversary of the Reserve Bank of India on April 1st, Mr Modi told the central bank’s policymakers to focus on making the rupee more accessible.
印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪希望再次看到这种货币在全球范围内流通。在4月1日印度储备银行成立90周年的庆典上，莫迪告诉中央银行的决策者，要重点提高卢比的可用性。
Historically, however, national leaders have been a lot more likely to express enthusiasm for the idea of making their currency a global one than to enact the reforms required to do so.
然而，从历史上看，各国领导人往往更热衷于表达让本国货币成为全球货币的想法，而不是实施实现这一目标所需的改革。
Although the American dollar is the undisputed king of currencies, there are many with a global role of their own. The euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc, and the dollars of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore are all examples.
尽管美元是无可争议的货币之王，但也有许多货币在全球发挥着自己的作用。欧元、英镑、瑞士法郎以及澳大利亚、加拿大、香港和新加坡的美元都是例子。
These currencies are found in foreign reserves and private portfolios worldwide, and used for both trade and financial transactions. In theory, there is no reason why the rupee should not join the illustrious group.
这些货币在全球外汇储备和私人投资组合中都有出现，并用于贸易和金融交易。从理论上讲，卢比没有理由不加入这个杰出的行列。
Having a widely used currency brings sizeable benefits. Demand from overseas investors lowers financing costs for domestic companies, which are no longer compelled to borrow in foreign currencies.
拥有一种广泛使用的货币会带来巨大的好处。海外投资者的需求降低了国内公司的融资成本，这些公司不再被迫以外币借款。
Such demand also reduces exchange-rate risks for exporters and importers, who do not need to convert currencies so often when trading, and enables the government to reduce the size of its foreign-exchange reserves.
这种需求还降低了出口商和进口商的汇率风险，因为他们在交易时不需要经常转换货币，并使政府能够减少外汇储备的规模。
Some of the foundation stones of an international currency are being laid in India. The country now has assets that foreigners want to buy, making the rupee a potential store of value overseas.
印度正在为国际货币奠定一些基石。现在，印度拥有外国人想购买的资产，这使得卢比成为一种潜在的海外价值储存手段。
In September JPMorgan Chase, a bank, announced that it would include Indian government bonds in its emerging-market index. Bloomberg, a data provider, took the same decision last month. The explosive performance of the country’s stocks, which are up by 37% in dollar terms over the past year, has piqued global interest.
9月，摩根大通银行宣布将印度政府债券纳入其新兴市场指数。数据提供商彭博社上个月也做出了同样的决定。过去一年，印度股票上涨了37%（以美元计价），其强劲表现引发了全球的关注。
The rupee is also increasingly a unit of account and a medium of exchange for foreigners. Banks from 22 countries have been permitted to open special rupee-denominated accounts, without the usual exchange limits. In August India made its first rupee payment for oil, to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
卢比也越来越多地成为外国人的记账单位和兑换媒介。来自22个国家的银行已获准开设卢比特别账户，不受通常的汇兑限制。今年8月，印度首次使用卢比向阿布扎比国家石油公司支付石油费用。
Yet China shows how far India has to go. Although Chinese policymakers have been trying to make the yuan a global currency for more than a decade, it still accounts for less than 3% of international trades made via SWIFT, a payments network, outside the euro zone, despite the fact that China accounts for 17% of global GDP.
然而，从中国来看，印度还有很长的路要走。尽管中国十多年来一直在努力让人民币成为全球货币，但人民币在欧元区以外的国际贸易中所占比例仍不到 3%，而中国的GDP已占全球的17%。
Moreover, 80% of such international yuan transactions occur in Hong Kong. China’s relatively closed capital account, which prevents investments from flowing freely across its borders, is the main obstacle to wider use of its currency. India’s capital account is less closed than it once was, but is still far more sheltered than that of any of the countries with a global currency.
此外，80%的此类国际人民币交易发生在香港。中国的资本账户相对封闭，投资无法自由跨境流动，这是其货币被更广泛使用的主要障碍。印度的资本账户虽然比以前更加开放，但仍然比任何一个拥有全球货币的国家都要封闭得多。
