Interest rates set to rise further

Rising interest rates have put loan takers, from consumers to governments, in a bind, with many having taken out loans at interbank rates in the red, as they were for eight successive years in the EU.

Successive rounds of rate increases by central banks have unavoidably affected commercial loan rates.

Some loan takers are putting off refinancing their loans hoping for rate cuts, but economists warn that cuts won't be happening any time soon; in the EU, interest rates are expected to peak midway through 2024.

Also to be negatively impacted are companies that issued corporate bonds at high interest rates: Globally, they will have to pay back some $430 billion in the second half of the 2020s, Bloomberg research has found.