Libor rates latest

The important three-month sterling Libor rose from 0.65219 % to 0.65281%, announced on Monday, 19 April.
It fell to a record low of 0.54% on 28 September, bobbed around that mark for a while and then began to edge higher. It has stabilised a little above 0.60%, representing a 10 basis point gap with the UK bank rate (base rate) of 0.50%. That is consistent with the sort of gap seen before the credit crunch.

History: the Libor rate in 2008 and 2009 ...

The key three-month sterling Libor rate was marginally above 5.5% in January 2008 - broadly equal to the bank rate. It then climbed higher as the extent of the credit crunch emerged. It peaked at 6% in early April, despite the bank rate falling to 5% by that month, and then drifted down throughout the summer to a low of 5.7% on 12 September.
A dramatic worsening of the crisis sent it up to 6.3% on 30 September (a 130-point gap with the bank rate). That was the peak. It then began to ease with Libor slowly playing catch-up each time the base rate fell.
But after the final rate cut in March 2009, a substantial gap remained between Libor and the base rate. Then the Bank of England launched its programme of quantitative easing - electronic money creation. A £75bn splurge of QE began on 11 March. A further £50bn was announced on 7 May and another £50bn (total £175bn) was promised on 6 August. It was finally extended to £200bn in Novemeber 2009.
Libor was still stubbornly stuck at around 1.25% in early to mid-June. But with the flow of newly printed money coming into the financial system confidence was boosted and banks encouraged to lend to each other again at more favourable rates.
The daily falls gathered pace in late June and early June, coming down by two points a day at one point. The falls slowed in September as Libor looked like converging with the UK bank rate of 0.50%.
QE was extended to £200bn towards the end of the year with that last £25bn will be slowly dripped into the market in the first few months of 2010.