Bank of England Aims to Print Book, Not Money, in 2022

LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England will publish a book aimed at improving the British public’s understanding of economics later this year, titled “Can’t we just print more money?”.

The BoE ended an 895 billion pound ($1.2 trillion) programme of bond purchases less than three weeks ago – a policy often dubbed money printing and which critics blame for fuelling inflation.

BoE officials have stressed the purchases do not involve the literal printing of banknotes – as in Weimar Germany and other countries hit by hyperinflation – and also rejected suggestions from some economists that it effectively financed government spending in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announcing the new book on Tuesday, the BoE said it would be published on May 19, and that proceeds from the sales would be used to provide free copies for schools.

The book aims to answer questions such as “Why are all my clothes made in Asia?” and “What actually is money?”, and has been written by two BoE economists, Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning, who work on financial stability and macroeconomics.

The publisher is Penguin Random House.

($1 = 0.7416 pounds)

(Reporting by David Milliken)