S&P warns of possible economic blow, hit to Japan Inc from BOJ rate hike

TOKYO (Reuters) – A future Bank of Japan (BOJ) interest rate hike could affect the countrys sovereign debt rating if firms struggle to absorb rising funding costs, an official at S&P Global Ratings said on Thursday.

东京（路透社）——标普全球评级的一位官员周四表示，如果企业难以消化不断上升的融资成本，日本央行 (boj) 未来的加息可能会影响该国的主权债务评级。

Higher borrowing costs could also lead to a downturn in long-term economic growth, S&P said.

标准普尔表示，更高的借贷成本也可能导致长期经济增长放缓。

Japanese bond yields have crept up on market expectations the BOJ will phase out its yield control policy and start raising interest rates under a new governor who succeeds incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda in April.

由于市场预期日本央行将在 4 月接替现任黑田东彦的新行长的领导下逐步取消其收益率控制政策并开始加息，因此日本债券收益率攀升。

While further rises in long-term interest rates could increase Japan‘s already large debt burden, such factors are already taken into account in the current “A+” sovereign debt rating, said Kim Eng Tan, senior director of S&P’s sovereign ratings team in Asia-Pacific.

标普亚太地区主权评级团队高级主管 kim eng tan 表示，虽然长期利率的进一步上升可能会增加日本本已沉重的债务负担，但目前的“a+”主权债务评级已经考虑了这些因素.

The bigger concern is whether Japanese firms, accustomed to many years of ultra-low interest rates, could absorb higher funding costs that come from tighter monetary policy, he told Reuters in an interview.

他在接受路透社采访时表示，更大的担忧是，习惯了多年超低利率的日本企业能否吸收因收紧货币政策而导致的更高融资成本。

S&P expects the BOJ to tighten policy only gradually with the near-term impact on the economy likely limited, Tan added.

tan 补充说，标准普尔预计日本央行只会逐步收紧政策，近期对经济的影响可能有限。

But the longer-term effect on Japanese firms and the broader economy is a concern as “we‘re now at a stage where interest rates seem to be rising, and there’s quite a bit of uncertainty about how far it will go before it stabilises again,” he said.

但对日本企业和整体经济的长期影响令人担忧，因为“我们现在正处于利率似乎正在上升的阶段，而且在利率再次稳定之前会走多远存在很大的不确定性，” 他说。

Even a 1-2 percentage point increase in interest rates would have a big impact on Japanese firms, particularly those in the service-sector with low profits or high debt, Tan said.

tan 表示，即使利率上调 1-2 个百分点，也会对日本企业产生重大影响，尤其是那些利润低或负债高的服务业企业。

“Theyve been used to a very low interest rate environment for quite a while. So it is really the impact on the economy that could potentially have an impact on our ratings,” he said.

“他们已经习惯了很长一段时间的低利率环境。因此，真正可能对我们的评级产生影响的是对经济的影响，”他说。

S&P currently assigns an “A+” long-term and “A-1” short-term sovereign debt ratings on Japan. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable.

标准普尔目前授予日本“a+”长期和“a-1”短期主权债务评级。长期评级展望稳定。