The collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September 2008 transformed an expected global slowdown into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Though the direct losses from the US investment bank’s bankruptcy caused little trouble, the ensuing panic that engulfed financial markets, banks and companies hit the global economy harder than the Opec oil crises of the mid-1970s, the loss of control over inflation in the late 1970s or the dotcom crash at the turn of the millennium.

Although a year later the scene is of a more stable world economy – thanks to growth in emerging markets and even glimmers of recovery in developed economies – caution still dominates the mood among policymakers.