bank

Influence on market rates of interest

It is sometimes assumed that, by setting their own discount rates, central banks are able to influence, if not completely control, general market lending rates. In truth, most central banks supply relatively little base money in the form of direct loans or discounts to commercial banks. Central banks wield the greatest influence on rates that banks charge each other for short-term, especially overnight, funds. In some countries overnight interbank lending rates (such as the Federal Funds Rate in the United States, the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, in England, and the Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate, or TIBOR, in Japan) function as important indirect guides to the central bank’s monetary policy. Yet even in this respect the ability of central banks to influence inflation-adjusted interest rates is very limited, especially in the long term.