UK public sector net borrowing was higher than expected in March, figures released by the Office for National Statistics showed on Wednesday.
Public sector borrowing totalled £16.44 billion in March, up from £12.31 billion in February and higher than £12.7 billion the year before. It also exceeded an FXStreet-cited consensus of £16.05 billion.
Notably, February’s net borrowing was revised up from a previously reported £10.71 billion, which the ONS said was primarily due to improvements of its estimation of the monthly profile of local government debt. It has not changed the quarterly values, it added.
It was the third-highest March borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, the ONS noted.
‘Compared with the annual value of the UK’s economy, borrowing in the [full year ended] March 2025 was provisionally estimated at 5.3% of the UK‘s gross domestic product, 0.5 percentage points more than in the same twelve-month period a year earlier and the eighth highest value since the financial crisis in the FYE 2009,’ said the ONS.
Borrowing for the year ended March 31 is provisionally estimated at £151.9 billion, higher than a £137.3 billion forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility and £20.7 billion more than the year before.
Also, it reported the current budget deficit was estimated at £74.6 billion in the year to March, against a £60.7 billion OBR forecast. The deficit was up £12.6 billion on-year.
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