Britain's public finances suffered their worst six months on record between April and September, official data showed today, with government borrowing more than double that in the same period last year.
The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing came in at £14.8 billion, a shade less than economists had expected but the worst September reading on record.
That took the year-to-date deficit to £77.29 billion, the highest ever for the first six months of a tax year according to data for that measure going back to 1946.
"They're not good numbers, there's no doubt about that. But given what could be happening, I suppose we should be thankful they are not actually worse," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank.
The public sector net cash requirement came in at £19.4 billion last month, the highest deficit for a month of September on record and slightly above expectations. This took the total deficit since April to £76.1 billion - also the worst on record for that period.
The Treasury forecast in April that borrowing would total £175 billion in the current financial year - a target which the government and most economists said still looked attainable.
Britain's public finances have taken a heavy hit from the country's deepest recession in decades, with sharp drops in receipts from income tax, value-added tax and corporation tax while spending has increased modestly.
"Today's figures are broadly in line with our forecast and reflect our action to lock in the recovery and get the economy growing again by the turn of the year," said Liam Byrne, Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Total net debt rose to £824.8 billion at the end of September, equivalent to 59 per cent of gross domestic product. Excluding the cost of financial sector interventions, net debt was £682.8 billion or 48.9 per cent of GDP.
Reuters