从去年7月至今持续已经10个月的亚洲金融危机,造成了东南亚国家货币的大幅度贬值。据统计,自去年下半年以来,菲律宾比索已贬值35%,泰国铢和马来西亚林吉特各贬值45%,印度尼西亚盾贬值80%,韩国元贬值幅度也在50%以上。这些国家货币的大幅度贬值,意味着其出口商品价格也将有较大幅度下降,因而在国际市场上的竞争力将上升。这对我国的对外贸易无疑将产生不小的影响。然而,面对这样的局面,“中国抵制了竞相实行货币贬值的诱惑”(摩根——斯坦利公司首席经济学家斯蒂芬·罗奇语)。新任总理朱镕基在他就任后的首次记者招待会上,坚定而有信心地宣告:中国政府今年要实现的目标是:经济增长率达到8%以上,通货膨胀率小于3%,人民币不贬值。这就是说,中国虽然经济上面临诸多新旧困难,仍不愿用让货币贬值的办法来给亚洲金融危机火上加油,而是要作抵 The Asian financial crisis, which lasted 10 months from July last year, caused a drastic devaluation of the currencies of Southeast Asian countries. According to statistics, since the second half of last year, the Philippine peso has depreciated 35%, the Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit each depreciated by 45%, the Indonesian rupiah devalued by 80% and the South Korean dollar by 50% or more. The drastic devaluation of the currencies of these countries means that the prices of their exports will also have a more drastic drop and their competitiveness in the international market will rise. This will undoubtedly have a significant impact on our country’s foreign trade. Faced with such a situation, however, “China has resisted the temptation to run a currency devaluation” (Morgan Stanley chief economist Stephen Roach). At the first press conference since assuming office, Zhu Rongji, the new prime minister, firmly and confidently declared that the goal to be achieved by the Chinese government this year is that the economic growth rate will reach over 8% with an inflation rate of less than 3% and the renminbi will not devalue. This means that although China faces many new and old difficulties in its economy, China is still reluctant to let the devaluation of its currency come to fuel the Asian financial crisis,