NEWS: Bank of England to temporarily finance UK government spending
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If it is not possible to raise funds immediately from the debt market, the Bank of England has tentatively agreed to raise funds for government borrowing in response to covid-19 to restore the last measures that were widely used during the 2008 financial crisis.
The UK government usually borrows directly from the market through bond issuance, and this week financial markets showed a strong willingness to fund more than 10 billion pounds of government bonds, some of which have historically low yields.
But last month the market was volatile - before the Bank of England said it would buy ? 200bn of assets (mainly bonds), the UK stock market was volatile. Thursday's announcement gave the Bank of England scope to finance directly from the government.
"As an interim measure, this will provide the government with additional short-term sources of liquidity by smoothing the government's cash flow and supporting the orderly operation of the market during government intervention in covid-19, if necessary," the Bank of England said in a statement Joint statement with the Ministry of finance.
The government and the Bank of England said any borrowing from the ways and means facility - effectively an overdraft by the government of the Bank of England - would be repaid by the end of the year.