Gilt issuance to double to pay for public spending

UK gilt issuance is set to double in 2003 after Chancellor Gordon Brown announced cuts in economic growth forecasts meant he would need to borrow to make up the shortfall between declining tax receipts and increases in public spending commitments. The news has concerned bond watchers, who fear a flood of supply will weaken prices of the paper they are already holding. Further bearish news for UK bonds was Brown's announcement that hawkish deputy governor Mervyn King will succeed Eddie George as governor of the Bank of England next June. King's vigilant attitude to stamping out inflati...