LONDON- The Bank of England has increased net lending to large companies via its scheme to buy debt known as commercial paper by more than 3.6 billion pounds ($4.46 billion) over the past week.

The BoE said on Thursday its holdings of commercial paper under the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) rose to 5.504 billion pounds as of April 8 from 1.878 billion pounds on April 1.

The facility is open to companies which had an investment-grade credit rating before they were affected by the coronavirus, or similar financial strength. ($1 = 0.8073 pounds)

(Reporting by David Milliken Editing by William Schomberg) ((david.milliken@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5109; Reuters Messaging: david.milliken.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))