It’s tricky to unwind QE when central banks hold up to 20% of government debt

(Aug 16): Leading central banks now hold as much as 20% of government debt. This goes to show the scale of challenge to come in unwinding unprecedented stimulus measures deployed over the past decade, according to The Financial Times.

The stimulus was meant to be a temporary emergency measure but has now evolved into a big problem for policymakers as they figure out how to return the global economy to normal monetary conditions.

In an effort to boost the global economy, borrowing costs for household and businesses have been driven down as the world’s biggest central banks carried out large-scale purchases of bonds and securities ever since the financial crisis emerged.

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