Page "Interest rate" Paragraph 3

In the past two centuries, interest rates have been variously set either by national governments or central banks.

For example, the Federal Reserve federal funds rate in the United States has varied between about 0. 25 % to 19 % from 1954 to 2008, while the Bank of England base rate varied between 0. 5 % and 15 % from 1989 to 2009, and Germany experienced rates close to 90 % in the 1920s down to about 2 % in the 2000s.

During an attempt to tackle spiraling hyperinflation in 2007, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe increased interest rates for borrowing to 800 %.