The Treasury has announced it is to extend its overdraft facility at the Bank of England in a fresh sign of the mounting financial pressure on the government caused by the Covid-19 enforced lockdown of the economy. Amid growing speculation that the quarantining will be extended next week, the Treasury said it needed extra firepower to support its cashflow and to ensure financial markets ran smoothly. The Treasury has a long-established overdraft facility at the Bank through the Ways and Means facility. It currently stands at £400m but at times of crisis the chancellor can draw on it as a source of cash, and during ... (full story)