The world is on the road to “hyperinflation” and could be heading towards its worst financial crisis since the second world war, according to Elliott Management, one of the world’s biggest and most influential hedge funds.

The Florida-based firm, which was founded by billionaire Paul Singer and manages about $56bn in assets, has warned its clients of an “extremely challenging” situation for the global economy and for financial markets where investors will find it difficult to make money.

An “extraordinary” set of financial extremes that come as the era of cheap money draws to a close “have made possible a set of outcomes that would be at or beyond the boundaries of the entire post-WWII period,” it wrote in the letter, which was seen by the Financial Times.