The Bank of England set out a multi-year programme on Thursday to offload most of its remaining £488 billion (HK$5.12 trillion) pounds of government bonds, but will pause sales for the next six months and halt sales of long-dated gilts entirely.The BoE's decision comes days after British 30-year borrowing costs hit their highest since 1998 as part of a global bond selloff which reignited criticism that the BoE's bond sale policy crystallises losses for the central bank that are underwritten by the government. [...]