The Bank of England said today it would extend an emergency liquidity measure, the three-month Contingent Term Repo Facility (CTRF), to run until the end of April and it would also hold a one-month CTRF operation each week until 1 May.
The Bank reactivated the facility last week as part of its attempts to keep financial markets running smoothly during the coronavirus crisis.
“The Bank will continue to monitor market conditions carefully and the operation of the CTRF remains under review,” it said in a statement today. “The Bank stands ready to take additional action if necessary.”
The Bank said the move was “a further precautionary step to provide additional flexibility in the Bank’s provision of liquidity insurance over the coming months”.
It said CTRF operations will run in addition to its regular liquidity insurance facilities including the Indexed Long-Term Repo and Discount Window Facility.
Other measures the Bank has taken to tackle the coronavirus-triggered economic crisis include cutting interest rates to a record low of 0.1 per cent to help pump liquidity into the economy.
It has also ramped up bond-buying, pledging to purchase £200bn more debt.
The Bank’s new governor Andrew Bailey took over the top job earlier this month at a time of economic turmoil across the globe.
The economic paralysis that has followed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak has sent stock markets crashing and left many companies and their workers on the brink.
By James Booth
Source: City AM