By Lucy Phillips
21 January 2010
Government borrowing reached £15.7bn last month, a new record for December, according to official figures released today.
But the amount was lower than forecast, partly due to an increase in tax cash-receipts.
The Office for National Statistics reported that government spending was 7.5% higher than in the previous December, at £44.9bn. Total borrowing for the first nine months of the financial year was £119.9bn, the most since records began in 1946, as the worst recession in decades pushed up public spending.
Public sector net debt grew to £870bn by the end of last year, equivalent to 61.7% of gross domestic product, according to the ONS.
Gemma Tetlow, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the new figures suggested that the government would not have to borrow as much as the £178bn forecast in December’s Pre-Budget Report.
But she warned that ‘considerable uncertainty’ remained, with next month’s receipts being ‘particularly important’. These would include the new 50% super tax on City bonuses announced by the chancellor in the Pre-Budget Report.
21 January 2010
Government borrowing reached £15.7bn last month, a new record for December, according to official figures released today.
But the amount was lower than forecast, partly due to an increase in tax cash-receipts.
The Office for National Statistics reported that government spending was 7.5% higher than in the previous December, at £44.9bn. Total borrowing for the first nine months of the financial year was £119.9bn, the most since records began in 1946, as the worst recession in decades pushed up public spending.
Public sector net debt grew to £870bn by the end of last year, equivalent to 61.7% of gross domestic product, according to the ONS.
Gemma Tetlow, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the new figures suggested that the government would not have to borrow as much as the £178bn forecast in December’s Pre-Budget Report.
But she warned that ‘considerable uncertainty’ remained, with next month’s receipts being ‘particularly important’. These would include the new 50% super tax on City bonuses announced by the chancellor in the Pre-Budget Report.
