S.Africa's black middle class fuel sales boom	南非黑人中产阶层推动经济发展
S.Africa's black middle class fuel sales boom South Africa's formerly all-white neighborhoods are becoming darker in complexion and more expensive. Analysts say that soaring house prices and booming car sales are being fueled by an upwardly mobile black middle class emerging from the ashes of apartheid . Blacks, who make up about 75 percent of South Africa's 46.6 million people, are moving from the periphery of the economy into the mainstream thanks to policies aimed at redressing decades of injustice. Statistics compiled by the independent Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) show that the black middle class has swelled to 7.8 percent of the total population in 2000 from 3.3 percent in 1994. "The development of a black middle class was deliberately stunted under segregation and apartheid," said the HSRC's Roger Southall. Although official figures are not available, analysts say the black middle class is behind the retail sales boom and strong house price growth. Before 1994, blacks were precluded by legislation from owning properties in suburbs exclusively reserved for whites and had limited access to bank credit. But the face of the former white suburbs has changed as blacks increasingly move from the townships in search of security and better municipal services. Living in posh suburbs is seen by many as a status symbol. "The black middle class is contributing strongly to the growth of the property market and other sectors of the economy," says Jacques du Toit, an economist at banking group Absa. House prices rose by an average of 30.3 percent in real terms in 2004, the highest since 1967, and business is also booming for auto traders, with a growing number of sales attributed to black buyers. (Agencies)	南非原来的白人居住区逐渐出现了一个个黑面孔，房价也更加昂贵。 分析师们表示，在种族隔离政策宣告结束后涌现出大量黑人中产阶层，而且他们的数量呈增加趋势，黑人中产阶层对房价飚升及汽车销量的激增起到很大的推动作用。 南非现有人口4660万，其中黑人占75％左右，他们正从外围地带走出并成为经济发展的中流砥柱，而这一切要归功于10年来积极推行的种族和解政策。 独立机构人类科学研究理事会（HSRC）的统计数据显示，2000年黑人中产阶层占人口总数的比例由1994年的3.3%增长至7.8%。 人类科学研究理事会的罗杰·索夏尔称，“南非种族隔离政策阻碍了黑人中产阶层的发展。” 尽管没有官方数字，分析师们仍表示，黑人中产阶层是零售激增及房价高涨背后的推动力量。 1994年以前，法律规定黑人不能在郊区购买白人居住区的房产，而且银行信贷对黑人也有所限制。 不过，随着黑人逐渐离开有色人种居住区，去寻找更安全、更好的市政服务，原有的白人居住区也出现了许多新面孔。很多人将居住在高级社区看作是身份地位的象征。 南非Absa银行的经济学家雅克·纳塔利表示：“黑人中产阶层对房地产市场及其他行业的发展做出了很大贡献。” 2004年房价的实际增长为30.3%，是1967年以来的最高水平，汽车销售数量也大幅增加，买主中不乏黑人。 （中国日报网站译）