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(FILES) In this file photo taken on on March 11, 2020, Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey attends a news conference at the Bank Of England in London
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Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said the Bank would investigate how The Sun newspaper got details of its new £150bn quantitative easing programme before it was announced.
Asked by at a press conference on 5 November about The Sun story Bailey told journalists, “Yes, we will look into it”.
The Sun reported on 4 November that the Bank was planning a much larger programme of quantitative easing than the expected addition of £100bn.
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Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper wrote that the new programme was likely to be £150bn but could be as high as £200bn.
The BoE and The Sun were contacted for comment.
The Bank opted to increase its target stock of buying up government bonds by an extra £150bn to a total of £875bn, as part of its response to the economic and financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, it announced on 5 November.
The BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee unanimously backed the stimulus hike, which came alongside a vote to support the continuation of its existing £100bn programme of quantitative easing.
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Threadneedle Street surprised analysts across the board, with economists at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank having forecast an increase in quantitative easing of up to £100bn ahead of the meeting.
The Sun is owned by News Corp which also owns Financial News.
