protract#2
日銀がマイナス金利の導入を発表しました。今年に入ってから世界経済の混乱の煽りをうけ，日経平均など大きく変動しております。物価の上昇も，日銀の目標とは程遠い現状であります。このような状況の中でのマイナス金利の導入は，民間銀行が資金を預けたままにするのではなく，企業に貸し出すことを促すために行われていると思われます。
記事の中で気になった単語は"protract"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると「（だらだらと）長引かせる, 引き延ばす，＜器官＞を伸ばす, 突き出す」などという意味がありました。Oxford Dictionaries.comには短く"Prolong"とあります。ラテン語の"protrahere"からきており，"pro-"が"out"で"trahere"が"to draw"を表すようです（Oxford Dictionaries.com）。（Ume）
Japan adopts negative interest rate in surprise move
There are doubts, however, over how well the new policy will work.
"Negative interest rates are one of the last instruments in the BoJ's tool box," Martin Schulz of the Fujitsu Institute in Tokyo told the BBC. "But their impact is unlikely to be strong."
Mr Schulz cautioned that in the eurozone, negative interest rates are being used to tackle a financial crisis, whereas Japan is in a protracted slow growth environment.
"In Japan, credit didn't expand not because banks were unwilling to lend but because businesses didn't see the investment perspective to borrow. Even with negative interest rates, this situation will not change."
"Businesses don't need money - they need investment opportunities. And that can only be achieved by structural reforms, not by monetary policy," he said.
