紐時賞析／伊朗人邊境買食用油 反映民生艱困

Iranians Cross Borders to Buy Cooking Oil Amid Soaring Inflation

伊朗人邊境買食用油 反映民生艱困

On Turkey’s bustling border crossing with Iran, in a shed filled with boxes of cooking oil, a shopkeeper read aloud to his colleagues the latest news on his phone: Peace talks between the United States and Iran were postponed.

在土耳其與伊朗之間繁忙的邊境關卡，一間堆滿食用油箱子的棚子裡，一名店主對著同事朗讀手機上的最新消息：美國與伊朗的和平談判已被延後。

For these merchants, the twists and turns of the war, and economic crisis in Iran, have brought an unexpected boon to their business. As the prices of basic goods have spiraled in Iran, they can sell olive, sunflower and corn oils for a modest profit to Iranians at the border, who will either sell the oil inside their country or use it themselves.

對這些商人而言，戰事的反覆與伊朗的經濟危機，反而為生意帶來意外利多。隨著伊朗基本物資價格飆升，他們能以小幅利潤，將橄欖油、葵花油與玉米油賣給在邊境的伊朗人，這些人再將油品帶回國內轉售或自行使用。

Dozens of people were seen carrying multiple 4- and 5-liter bottles of oil as they walked from Turkey into Iran over the course of a single morning and afternoon. In interviews, shopkeepers said demand for cooking oil had spiked in recent days.

在短短一個上午與下午之間，就可見數十人從土耳其走向伊朗，手中提著多瓶4公升與5公升裝的食用油。店主在受訪時表示，近來食用油需求明顯激增。

“We just started doing this recently,” said Maryam, an Iranian woman who purchased four bottles of cooking oil Wednesday with her husband, intending to sell them back home. “Cooking oil is better” than the cigarettes the couple usually buy and sell across the border, she said, because it brings greater profit.

「我們最近才開始這樣做，」伊朗女子瑪麗亞姆表示。她與丈夫周三購買了四瓶食用油，打算帶回國內轉售。她說，相較於兩人平常跨境買賣的香菸，「食用油更好賺」，因為利潤更高。

Maryam said she could buy a 5-liter bottle in Turkey for a little over $10 and sell it inside Iran for cheaper than the going rate in shops there, making a small profit of around $2. She declined to give her full name, like most Iranians interviewed at the border, for fear of reprisal from the Iranian government.

瑪麗亞姆表示，她在土耳其可以用略高於10美元的價格買到一瓶5公升裝食用油，再以低於伊朗當地市價的價格售出，仍可賺取約2美元的小利。與多數在邊境受訪的伊朗人一樣，她因擔心遭伊朗政府報復，拒絕透露全名。

The inflation rate in Iran projected by the International Monetary Fund for this year is nearly 70%, which would be the highest rate calculated by the IMF for the country since at least 1980.The price of cooking oil surged in Iran in January after the government removed subsidies on the imports of certain essential goods, a policy intended to cut state expenditures amid sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sales.

國際貨幣基金預估，伊朗今年通膨率將接近70%，為該機構自1980年至今對該國所計算的最高水準。今年1月，伊朗政府取消部分民生必需品進口補貼後，食用油價格隨之飆升。這項政策旨在因應針對伊朗石油銷售的制裁，藉此削減國家支出。

文／Yeganeh Torbati，譯／國際中心