BOE governor bemoans Britain's debt

LONDON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Bank of England Gov. Mervyn King said the size of Britain's debt had limited the size of the economic stimulus the government could provide.

"I do think public debt matters. We get to this crisis with levels of pubic borrowing that were too high and that made it difficult," King told a panel of parliamentary ministers Thursday, The Times of London reported.

Although the debt matters, any suggestion the country was going broke was a "wild exaggeration," he said.

The Office of National Statistics last week said rescued British banks, now in part government owned, could add $2.1 trillion to the public debt.

King also said he didn't understand why the ONS hadn't included properties owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB in their formula for figuring the nation's debt.

The ONS said it didn't include the bank's illiquid assets, as they weren't immediately available, The Times reported.