Report: Bank of England said to consider halting sales of long-term government bonds

As UK long-term government bond yields rise to multi-decade highs, the Bank of England may soon stop selling the long-term government bonds it purchased during the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports. The report said officials from the Bank of England, the UK Treasury and the UK Debt Management Office have already drafted relevant plans, but did not cite sources. The report said the final decision still rests with the Bank of England. Market participants expect the Bank of England to slow the pace of balance sheet reduction to 50 billion pounds per year over the 12 months starting in October. This means the scale of active bond sales will remain at about 20 billion pounds. However, long-term government bonds account for only about 20% of the Bank of England's current active bond sales, so even if sales stop, the impact on the overall pace of balance sheet reduction will be relatively limited.