Related News
UK public borrowing hits high
By Fiona Shaikh and David Milliken |
December 22, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH public borrowing unexpectedly surged in November to its highest on record, casting doubt over the government's four-year plan to slash the deficit through the biggest spending cuts in a generation.
Public sector net borrowing, which smooths out some of the monthly volatility in government revenue and spending, came in at a record 22.774 billion pounds (US$35.21 billion) in November, up from 16.7 billion pounds a year ago and well above forecasts for it to hold steady at around 17 billion pounds.
The Treasury said it remained on track to eliminate the deficit over the next four years, but the figures showed borrowing driven higher by health, defense and European Union spending as well as weak revenue growth.
"This is dire news for Chancellor George Osborne to digest over Christmas and is likely to reinforce the government's belief that there must be no let up in the fiscal consolidation efforts," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
"There is now a very serious risk that the government will miss its fiscal targets for 2010/11. Much will depend on how well growth holds up over the rest of the fiscal year, and any hit to economic activity due to bad weather will only make things harder."
The government's preferred measure on which fiscal forecasts are based, PSNB excluding financial sector interventions, came in at 23.314 billion pounds, up from 17.395 billion pounds a year ago, and also a record high, the Office for National Statistics numbers showed. Total public borrowing for the fiscal year to date is lower than it was a year ago, but the pound fell and gilt prices weakened slightly after the data as investors wondered whether November's poor figures was the start of a trend.
The ONS said the deterioration was due to a 10.8 percent rise in central government spending compared with a year ago combined with an annual rise of just 3.1 percent in tax revenues - the smallest since last December.
Local government borrowing last month was more than treble that of a year ago at 2.868 billion pounds, though the ONS said this was a volatile measure and could be revised lower.
Public sector net borrowing, which smooths out some of the monthly volatility in government revenue and spending, came in at a record 22.774 billion pounds (US$35.21 billion) in November, up from 16.7 billion pounds a year ago and well above forecasts for it to hold steady at around 17 billion pounds.
The Treasury said it remained on track to eliminate the deficit over the next four years, but the figures showed borrowing driven higher by health, defense and European Union spending as well as weak revenue growth.
"This is dire news for Chancellor George Osborne to digest over Christmas and is likely to reinforce the government's belief that there must be no let up in the fiscal consolidation efforts," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
"There is now a very serious risk that the government will miss its fiscal targets for 2010/11. Much will depend on how well growth holds up over the rest of the fiscal year, and any hit to economic activity due to bad weather will only make things harder."
The government's preferred measure on which fiscal forecasts are based, PSNB excluding financial sector interventions, came in at 23.314 billion pounds, up from 17.395 billion pounds a year ago, and also a record high, the Office for National Statistics numbers showed. Total public borrowing for the fiscal year to date is lower than it was a year ago, but the pound fell and gilt prices weakened slightly after the data as investors wondered whether November's poor figures was the start of a trend.
The ONS said the deterioration was due to a 10.8 percent rise in central government spending compared with a year ago combined with an annual rise of just 3.1 percent in tax revenues - the smallest since last December.
Local government borrowing last month was more than treble that of a year ago at 2.868 billion pounds, though the ONS said this was a volatile measure and could be revised lower.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
