Understanding LIBOR

Published each day in the UK, it is the rate at which the banks lend to each other and it influences over $150 trillion (£100 trillion) of funds worldwide.

The Libor number is compiled by putting together the estimates of the cost of borrowing from at least eight banks, and then discarding the highest and lowest of the sample to leave an average rate which then becomes the daily 'Libor Fix'.

But the figure's validity is being questioned, with critics dubbing it "the rate at which banks won't lend".

Tim Harford explains the LIBOR