The world economy cannot sustain any further rise in the oil price， the International Energy Agency's chief economist warned as oil prices hit a record high for the year.

　　在油價升至今年新高之際，國際能源機構（IEA）首席經濟學家法提赫·比羅爾（Fatih Birol）警告稱，世界經濟無法承受油價的進一步上漲。

　　Fatih Birol told the Financial Times that prices higher than about $70 could damp a world economic recovery.

　　比羅爾向英國《金融時報》表示，若油價高于70美元，便有可能阻礙全球經濟復蘇。

　　“If we go one step further， if we see prices go much higher than that， we may see it slow down and strangle economic recovery，” he said of oil prices on Friday， when the European benchmark was around $70.

　　“如果我們再前進一步，如果油價遠遠高出70美元，就有可能減緩甚至扼殺全球經濟復蘇。”上周五他對油價作出上述評價，當時歐洲的基準油價在70美元上下。

　　European oil yesterday reached a high for the year of $73.87， spurred by manufacturing data from China and construction data from the US.

　　受中國制造業數據和美國建筑業數據的刺激，昨天歐洲油價創下今年新高，達73.87美元。

　　Fears have been raised over recent months that the inflationary effect of higher energy prices could impact the monetary measures taken by western governments to get their economies out of recession.

　　近幾個月來，人們開始擔心，能源價格走高的通脹效應，可能對西方各國政府為擺脫經濟衰退而出臺的貨幣政策措施造成沖擊。

　　Nicolas Sarkozy， French president， and Gordon Brown， UK prime minister， called for better scrutiny of energy markets at the G8 meeting last month in Italy， and the US commodities regulator began hearings last week that are likely to result in more limits on oil futures trade. UK regulators are also considering whether energy futures markets are adequately controlled.

　　上月在意大利舉行的八國集團（G8）會議上，法國總統尼古拉·薩科齊（Nicolas Sarkozy）和英國首相戈登·布朗（Gordon Brown）呼吁對能源交易市場實施更加嚴密的監督。美國大宗商品交易監管機構上周開始舉行聽證會，可能對石油期貨交易設置更多限制。英國監管機構也正在考慮，能源期貨市場是否受到足夠的管控。

　　However， Mr Birol said that efforts to curb oil speculation were “a good step”， but were not going to significantly reduce prices.

　　然而，比羅爾表示，雖然限制油價投機行為的努力是“一個好的舉措”，但不會顯著壓低油價。

　　Mr Birol said poorer countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa would be particularly hurt by higher energy prices. “They will go through a . . . vicious circle of debt as they did a few years ago in order to finance their oil imports，” he said.

　　比羅爾稱，較貧窮的國家，如撒哈拉以南非洲國家，受到高油價的影響會尤其嚴重。“他們會像幾年前一樣，為了負擔石油進口而經歷一種……債務的惡性循環，”他說。

　　The real problem， he said， was declining investment in oil production， which if anything had worsened in recent months.

　　據他稱，真正的問題在于對石油生產的投資縮減，特別是最近幾個月這種趨勢有所惡化。

　　“If there is a continuation of declining investment in the upstream sector， in a few years' time we may have major difficulties.”

　　“如果上游部門的投資繼續縮減，再過幾年我們可能會遭遇重大難題。”

　　He said Chinese demand would be an important determinant of oil prices， and the worldwide supply and demand balance could become very tight if other countries began to grow in 2011 or 2012.

　　比羅爾表示，中國需求將是油價的一個重要決定因素，而且如果其它國家在2011年或2012年開始增長，全球供需平衡將變得非常緊張。