The world’s big central banks are fuelling technology and property bubbles that will lead to a “clean-out” on global stock markets, the chairman of Australia’s $135bn sovereign wealth fund has warned.
Rock-bottom interest rates and bond-buying programmes put in place to cushion the impact of the pandemic last year are leaving economies and markets vulnerable to a shock, Peter Costello said in an interview.
His comments come as investors around the world have started to worry how long central banks will hold down interest rates in the event of rising inflation as the global economy recovers from coronavirus. These nerves have weighed on equity markets and hit government bond prices, pushing up yields from the US to Australia.