LONDON: The Bank of England does not expect to see a wave of bankruptcies among British firms when the government ends its coronavirus emergency support for the economy, BoE Chief Economist Andy Haldane said on Friday.

Many debts racked up recently by companies are spread over long durations "which increases the chances of them being able to be paid back and therefore bankruptcy is not picking up very much from current relatively subdued levels," Haldane said.

"But ultimately there are risks around that and we'll need to track them through," he said in a presentation to businesses, a day after the BoE sharply raised its forecasts for British economic growth in 2021.