BoE says won't sell QE gilts until it has room to cut rates

LONDON: The Bank of England will not start to sell its stock of government bonds which it amassed to stimulate Britain's economy until interest rates have reached a level from which they can be cut significantly, its governor said on Wednesday.

"When the time comes to begin to remove stimulus we will defer sales of assets at least until Bank Rate has reached a level from which it could be cut materially," Mark Carney told reporters after the BoE published a quarterly Inflation Report.

The BoE purchased 375 billion pounds ($631 billion) of British government bonds between 2009 and 2012 through its quantitative easing programme, and has reinvested cash from the maturing gilts in its stock to maintain it at that level.