Interest rates will start to rise in coming years as the population ages and the middle-aged savers who dominate the economy start to retire and become spenders, according to Sir Charlie Bean, a former deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

Big demographic changes in recent decades have forced interest rates down, central bankers argue, a position which was pushed to the current extremes by the financial crisis and the slow economic recovery which followed.

As a result the UK and much of the world ended up with a glut of savings, pushing down the so-called natural interest rate.

But the rich world’s population is now past the peak ratio of middle aged workers to older pensioners, as those savers in their 40s and 50s move into retirement, and start spending their savings.