UK Borrowed £11.4BN in June, More than forecast

by Guest Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:09 pm

UK public finances weaker than expected in June

Just in: Britain borrowed £11.386bn to balance the nation's books in June - more than expected, and more than a year ago.

Analysts had predicted a deficit of £10.665bn. In June 2013, the UK borrowed £7.594bn (although this was flattered by one-off factors).

That's not a great sign for the state of the UK's finances, showing little progress in bringing the deficit down.

Reuters: UK public finances show government slipping off target

Today's public finance figures show the UK government is struggling to bring down the deficit.

Here's Reuters' early take:

Britain's public finances showed a bigger than expected deficit in June, continuing a weak start to the tax year that leaves finance minister George Osborne with a lot of catching up to do to meet his fiscal goals.

The latest figures show the government has so far failed to reduce public borrowing during the first three months of the 2014/15 fiscal year, with less than a year to go before a national election.

The public sector finances, excluding financial sector interventions, showed a deficit of £11.368bn in June, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.This is up from £7.594bn in June 2013 and well above analyst forecasts of a deficit of £10.65bn.

Stripping out the effect of cash transfers from the Bank of England, the 2014/15 deficit to date was £36.1bn, 7.3% higher than at the same point a year ago.

Britain's government is aiming to get the deficit down to 5.5% of gross domestic product in the 2014/15 fiscal year, from 6.5% of GDP in 2013/14.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/22/credit-suisse-loss-tax-evasion-uk-public-finances-us-inflation-live

I wonder if they will be boasting about this? No, better keep it quiet!