Given the large unemployment rates and negative output gaps, the US Federal Reserve has indicated that the policy rate – the federal funds rate – will remain near zero till late 2014. The policy rate would thus remain near zero for almost six years, going by the Fed’s current assessment.
Worldwide borrowing by telecom firms amounted to more than a trillion dollars during the years 1998 to 2001. The financing of the massive expansion of fiber-optic networks and heavy investments in 3G mobile phone licenses by European firms strained debt markets.