Gilt Sales to Drop 6% as U.K. Avoids Recession, Transfers Assets

U.K. gilt sales will drop more than 6 percent in the next fiscal year as Britain avoids a recession and the transfer of pension-fund assets cuts borrowing needs.

Britain will issue 167.7 billion pounds ($221.7 billion) of gilts in the fiscal year starting next month, the London-based Debt Management Office said today. The sale plans were released after Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne’s budget report to Parliament. That compares with 178.9 billion pounds planned for the current fiscal year and an estimate of 180 billion pounds in Bloomberg survey of primary dealers that trade directly with the debt agency.