The government is scaling back issuance of index-linked gilts as a result of concerns over the long-term inflation impact they have on public finances.
HM Treasury's debt management report for 2018-19 - published alongside today's Spring Statement - said that, over the past four years, about 25% of the government's annual debt issuance has been through index-linked gilts, for which both the principal and interest payments are linked to the Retail Prices Index (RPI). The stock of index-linked gilts - favoured by both pension schemes and insurance companies - stood at around £400bn in nominal terms at the end of 2017, making up around 26% of the government's debt portfolio. But it said the index-linked proportion of the UK's debt stock...
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