It stimulates and lubricates economic activity, supports wealth creation for the whole of society, and allows households and individuals to bring forward consumption and purchases that would be impossible without it – including, critically, the purchase of housing. However, it does obviously have its risks, both to lenders and borrowers and the wider economy and financial stability of the country.
More fundamentally, although I would stop short at la12  belling this, like the Financial Times, a "crisis of confidence" for central banks, there is a need for a frank discussion on the robustness of the models used to guide monetary policy decisions.