Countries Included: All world countries, economic regions, geographical regions
Years Covered: From 1993 to 2008
Indicators: Over 50 indicators from our database of 1,000 are currently display by Econ Stats
Data Sources: IMF, World Bank, UN, OECD, CIA World Factbook, Internet World Statistics, The Heritage Foundation and Transparency International
Last Updated: 1st August 2011
Central Banks tend to use bank rates to either stimulate an economy by lowering rates, or try to dampen down bubbles by increasing it. Commercial rates usually (but not always) follow central bank rate trends at higher interest rates - they make money on the difference between the two.