LONDON (dpa-AFX) - The UK budget posted its second highest deficit on record for the month of August, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed on Tuesday.
Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, totaled GBP 20.5 billion in August 2021. This was the second-highest August borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.
Nonetheless, this was GBP 5.5 billion less than in August 2020.
Central government receipts grew GBP 5.3 billion in August, while central government expenditure fell GBP 1 billion from last year.
During April to August period, borrowing reached GBP 93.8 billion, the second highest financial year-to-August borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.
At the end of August, public sector net debt excluding public sector banks was GBP 2,202.9 billion or around 97.6 percent of GDP, the highest ratio since the 98.3 percent recorded in March 1963.
With the Chancellor intent on signaling in his Budget on October 27 that the fiscal stimulus seen since the pandemic is now firmly at an end, the big fiscal boost to the economy last year will soon become a fiscal drag, Ruth Gregory, an economist at Capital Economics, said.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2021 AFX News
