Government Securities: Coronavirus

(asked on 20th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a Corona Bond scheme similar to War Bonds.


Answered by
John Glen Portrait
John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question was answered on 28th April 2020

At present, the UK Government does not have any plans to introduce a special Coronavirus bond. Our core gilt programme is the most stable and cost-effective way of raising finance to fund the day-to-day activities of Government. The Government remains open to the introduction of new debt instruments, but would need to be satisfied that any new instrument would meet value-for-money criteria, enjoy strong and sustained demand in the long-term and be consistent with wider fiscal objectives.

The Government has recently announced an unprecedented package of measures to provide the critical support needed by individuals, families and businesses, in the wake of Covid-19. This will increase the Government’s immediate financing requirements, which, as previously announced by the Chancellor, will be fully funded by additional borrowing through the government’s normal debt management operations. In response to this, an adjustment to the DMO’s gilt issuance plans for April 2020 was published on 31 March 2020 and, additionally, a revision to the DMO’s gilt financing remit for May-July 2020 was announced on 23 April. A further update to the DMO’s financing remit and planned issuance schedule for 2020-21 will be announced on Monday 29 June 2020. This all focuses on existing debt financing instruments.

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