22nd Aug 2023 07:17
(Alliance News) - UK public sector net borrowing continued to climb last month, but at a slower pace than forecast, according to the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.
Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, reached GBP4.3 billion in July. This was GBP3.4 billion more than July 2022.
"Borrowing in July 2023 was the fifth highest in any July on record but is GBP1.7 billion less than the GBP6.0 billion forecast by the [Office for Budgetary Responsibility]," the ONS commented.
The ONS said monthly borrowing was only higher in the July of 2020, following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the July months from 2009 through 2011, during the global financial crisis.
At GBP2.579 trillion, the total debt pile was provisionally estimated to have been around 98.5% of the UK's annual gross domestic product in July. This was continuing at levels last seen in the early 1960s, the ONS noted.
Back in July, ONS had said the UK government's debt pile had surpassed the country's economic output in June at 100.8% of annual GDP. It was the first time this had happened since 1961.
However, June's figure was revised down 99.5%, given that the latest GDP estimates for the second quarter were GBP32.5 billion higher than previous estimates.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
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