Software provides output lift for Brown

　　修正软件业数据 英国将把GDP上调1%

　　2006年2月15日 星期三

　　修正软件业数据 英国将把GDP上调1% Software provides output lift for Brown

　　英国政府统计人员承认，他们严重低估了软件产业投资（对英国经济）的贡献。

　　British government statisticians admitted they had seriously understated the contribution of software investment.

　　对软件产业中商业投资额测算方法进行修正，将会立刻提高英国在经济产出、商业投资和繁荣程度方面的数字，并提高英国在国际经济排名中的位置。

　　Revisions to the way business investment in software is measured will instantly boost figures for economic output， business investment， and prosperity， lifting Britain‘s position in international economic league tables.

　　上述修正将使英国国内生产总值（GDP）提高1%，这超过去年经济增幅的一半。同时，该国自1992年以来所有年份的年度经济增长率也将向上修正近0.1个百分点。

　　The changes will raise gross domestic product by 1 per cent — more than half the level of economic growth last year — and revise annual growth rates upwards by close to 0.1 per cent for all years since 1992.

　　中国最近超过英国成为全球第四大经济体，但历史或许会表明，英国保持其第四大经济体地位的时间可能要比之前设想的要长一点。

　　China recently overtook the UK as the fourth largest economy in the world， but history may even show the UK held its position a little longer than had been thought.

　　英国国家统计局（Office for National Statistics）表示，一家公司开发的软件的价值将是原先设想的5倍。该机构称，其对2003年英国软件产业投资的预估值可能要从25亿英镑上调至130亿英镑。

　　The Office for National Statistics said the value of software developed within a company would be five times higher than had been thought. The ONS said its estimate for such investment in 2003 was likely to rise from ￡2.5bn to ￡13bn.

　　伦敦经济学院（London School of Economics） 经济表现中心（Centre for Economic Performance）的资深专家尼古拉斯？奥尔顿（Nicholas Oulton）称，长期以来，人们对于英国软件投资的低水平数据感到困惑：“英国软件投资有些奇怪，它与电脑购买量数据的联系并不紧密，而两者之间本应存在相互联系。”

　　Nicholas Oulton， a senior fellow at the Centre for Economic Performance and the London School of Economics， said there had long been a puzzle over the UK‘s low recorded levels of software investment： “There was something odd about UK software， it didn’t relate well to the recorded purchases of computers， and you would expect the two to be related.”

　　经济产出数据的提高将在许多方面迅速改善英国经济的面貌。

　　Higher levels of measured output will give an immediate boost on many fronts to the chancellor.

　　它将改善英国在全球经济繁荣程度排名中的相对地位；将提高生产率数据；将显示商业投资远远高于想象；将降低国民生产总值中税收负担和公共开支所占比重。

　　It will improve the UK‘s relative position in the league tables for prosperity； boost measured productivity； show business investment to be considerably higher than thought； and lower the recorded burden of tax and public expenditure in GDP.

　　修订后的结果也将使英国软件总投资处于与其它国家的同等水平，并显示英国软件业占国民生产总值的比重高于美国。英国国家统计局称，鉴于金融服务业在英国经济中占巨大比例，这一结果合情合理。

　　The results will put the UK‘s total software investment on par with other countries and show that UK in-house software development as a share of gross domestic product is higher than that in the US. The ONS said this was a reasonable result given the large share of financial services in the UK economy.

　　译者/梁鸥 梁艳梅