24.07.17
Public sector borrowing soars by £2bn in one year, ONS finds
Borrowing in the public sector was £2bn higher in June than it was at the same time last year, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown.
Net borrowing went up by £1.9bn up to £22.8bn in the current financial year when compared with the same period in 2016.
Of this sum total, £17.1bn was attributed to the cost of “day to day” spending in the public sector, whilst an additional £5.7bn related to capital spending or net investment in infrastructure.
Researchers also concluded that £26.4bn was borrowed by central government, whilst local government was found to be in surplus by £5.2bn.
The Office for Budget Responsibility also predicted that government borrowing will have increased to £58.3bn during the current financial year ending March 2018.
The ONS also found that public sector net debt stood at £1,753.5bn at the end of June 2017 – equivalent to 87.4% of GDP. This amounts to an increase of £128.5bn (3.6 percentage points as a ratio of GDP) from June 2016.
“In the current financial year-to date (April 2017 to June 2017), the public sector spent more money than it received in taxes and other income,” the ONS findings read. “This meant it had to borrow £22.bn; £1.9bnmore than in the same period in the previous financial year.”
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