Government borrows £18.8bn in October as debt to GDP remains elevated
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The government borrowed the second highest amount of money on record in October as the pandemic continues to hit the public finances.
The government borrowed £18.8bn in October, the second highest monthly figure since record began in 1993.
The borrowing figure was much higher than expected. Experts had expected public sector borrowing to fall to £13.8bn, down from £21bn in September.
A strong tax take tempered the amount of money the government borrowed.
Receipts climbed 6.2 per cent to over £65bn last month, driven by economic activity continuing to rebound from the Covid-19 crisis.
The debt-to-GDP ratio, a measure of the scale of debt the UK has on its books, remained historically high at 95.1 per cent.