Interest rates to rise globally in 2005

ALAN GREENSPAN is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of America, the most powerful central bank in the world.

He has held his post since 1987, when he was first appointed by Ronald Reagan, and he has subsequently been re-appointed by three other presidents, both Republicans and Democrats.

So despite the fact that Greenspan spent a brief period at the start of his career as a clarinet player with a travelling swing band, his subsequent career as an economist and his unprecedented 17 years at the helm of the Fed have earned him enormous respect in the markets.