Interest rate rises in doubt as fear of new global crisis rattles central banks

Concern about trouble in finance sector, plus renewed momentum in UK economy, could halt rises City analysts thought were a certainty

In 2006 the US central bank completed a series of interest rate rises that took its base rate from 1% to 5.25%. The plan was to cool a booming economy, but ended two years later with the great financial crash.

Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve was expected to push ahead with a 0.25 percentage point rise from its current range of 4.5% to 4.75%, this time to quell inflation generated by the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine war.