Firms are partying like it’s 2007. Time the Bank played pooper

The trillions in cheap money that central banks created after the crash have just gone to service old debt or push up property prices. And we know where that could lead "

You wish fervently for something then, when it happens, it's not what you hoped for at all. That is how central bankers must be feeling as they watch corporate debt soar to record highs.

They wanted companies to borrow and grow, but not like this. Last week, this concern was visible in the minutes of Bank of England's financial policy committee. They show that the committee, which overseas bank lending and is chaired by governor Mark Carney, likened a rapid growth in lending to indebted companies around the world to the US sub-prime mortgage market, which triggered the 2008 financial crisis.

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