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UK public sector net borrowing was higher than expected last month, spiking to the fourth-highest April figure since records began, numbers on Wednesday showed.
The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, amounted to £20.51 billion in April, higher than £13.06 billion in March and £18.98 billion a year prior.
What’s more, March’s reading was upwardly revised from £11.94 billion.
The latest April figure topped a £19.3 billion forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
It was the fourth-highest figure for an April, behind only the Covid-19 affected readings in 2020 and 2021, as well as in 2012 when the Royal Mail pension scheme was transferred into the public sector, the ONS explained.
The ONS also upped its UK government borrowing estimate for the financial year that ended in March, to £121.4 billion, from £120.7 billion. It means borrowing in the financial year was £7.3 billion more than what the OBR had forecast.
Public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, was estimated at 97.9% of gross domestic product last month, 2.5 percentage points more than at the end of April 2023, and at the loftiest level since the ‘early 1960s’.
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