US financial reform and the eurozone debt crisis will keep driving up key money market interest rates that affect consumers and companies, in a sign of rising tension in the banking system and growing fears over the world economy.
Bankers warn that the London interbank offered rates, at which banks borrow from each other and from money market funds, will rise sharply in the next few weeks and months.
They say three-month dollar Libor, the benchmark rate that served as a barometer of stress during the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, could jump by up to a full percentage point in the next few months. Citigroup says Libor, fixed at 0.497 per cent on Friday, could rise to 1-1.5 per cent.