The inter-bank lending rate has attained a new importance in the credit crunch - and has a feed on the popular micro-blogging site as a result.
One of the most keenly-watched market measures in global finance is to get a Twitter feed of its very own, banks announced today.
LIBOR - otherwise known as the world's most important number - is to be updated by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) on the micro-blogging website each afternoon. This will make it easier for observers to check for fluctuations in the rate, which measures the interest charged by banks when they lend to each other over the short term.
The rate achieved special prominence in 2007, with the onset of the credit crunch. A very sharp rise in LIBOR, when compared with the Bank of England's base rate, signalled that banks had become much less willing to lend - as fears about the financial crisis spread.
In this way, the increased "spread" - the gap between the rates - has become a key indicator of how bad the freeze on inter-bank lending has become. Banks charging more to loan money to other banks are showing that they are worried about whether or not they will get the money back - meaning that they think the crisis is still bad.
However, banks also reduce their rates when they become confident that conditions are improving - resulting in a concurrent drop in LIBOR. Prior to the beginning of the crisis, for example, the inter-bank rate was almost identical to the Bank base rate as the economy boomed.
LIBOR also has a more direct impact on consumers whose mortgages are directly linked to the rate.
John Ewan, the director for BBA LIBOR, said: "Only 18 months ago LIBOR was virtually unknown to the public: only economists followed its daily moves. Today it is as well-known - and as keenly watched - as the Bank of England's base rate, since so many loans are linked to it."
