FILE PHOTO: People walk in front of the Bank of England, following an outbreak of the coronavirus, in London, Britain March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
March 20, 2020
LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England will offer to buy 14.1 billion pounds ($16.6 billion) of government bonds next week as it embarks on the most rapid asset purchases in its history, to limit the economic and market impact of the coronavirus.
Britain’s central bank bought 5.1 billion pounds of gilts on Friday in the first step of its 200 billion pounds asset purchase plan, and will buy the same amount again on Monday.
On each of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it will buy 3 billion pounds of gilts. Purchases will be split evenly across baskets of gilts with maturities of 3-7 years, 7-20 years and more than 20 years.
(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy Bruce)
