Bank of England puts Covid behind it, but now must face costs of war

Threadneedle Street is offloading debt, but the Ukraine situation poses a new dilemma for all central banks

In times of global crisis, central banks watch for signs of panic in the financial markets. On 3 March 2020, when it became clear to investors that Covid-19 posed a significant threat to the global economy, a sudden flight to safety threatened to turn into a full-scale stampede.

With sellers dramatically outnumbering buyers, central banks found themselves riding to the rescue.