the clock is sticking for the Federal
Reserve the US central bank is
considering increasing interest rates
because the economy has strengthened and
central bankers believe there is a
growing risk that inflation may
eventually get out of control
currently interest rates are near zero
and Fed officials have stressed that the
first increase would be small and
following ones gradual a rate hike would
be the first since the 2008 financial
crisis and may pave the way for the Bank
of England to go the same way however
are the central banks in the eurozone
Japan and China are unlikely to raise
rates for quite some time meaning that
the era of cheap money globally is not
completely over yet where the Fed to
hike rates US consumers and businesses
would face higher borrowing costs on
their loans the value of the dollar
would rise as more investors will put
money in the u.s. chasing higher returns
this matters for companies around the
world that have borrowed in dollars as
they will find these loans harder to
repay then there is the question of how
financial markets will react some fear
there may be widespread panic one thing
that the Fed is actively trying to avoid