UK says to sell more gilts after bigger than forecast budget gap
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will sell an extra 2.1 billion pounds' worth of government bonds in the current financial year, the country's Debt Management Office said after data showed a slightly bigger than expected shortfall in the public finances in 2015/16.
"The 2.1 billion-pound increase in the national financing requirement is being financed exclusively by additional gilt sales, taking the total of planned outright gilt sales in 2016-17 to 131.5 billion pounds," the DMO said on Thursday.
"The additional gilt sales are all planned to be via auction," it said in a statement issued shortly after official statistics showed the budget deficit was a bit bigger than expected in the 2015/16 financial year.
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Andy Bruce)
