Public borrowing in new blow
Britain recorded its worst April public sector net borrowing on record last month as a fall in tax receipts got the new fiscal year off to a disappointing start, official data showed.
The public sector posted a net cash requirement of £3.259bn last month after a repayment of 5.834 billion pounds in April 2010.
The public sector net borrowing measure, which smoothes some of the monthly volatility in government revenue and spending, came in at £7.713bn, around £2.5bn higher than the same month last year and the highest reading for a month of April on record.
The government’s preferred measure on which fiscal forecasts are based, PSNB excluding financial sector interventions, also notched a record high at £9.954bn.
The Office for National Statistics noted that receipts in April last year were boosted by a one-off bank payroll tax which raised £3.5bn. Gilt interest payments were also one billion pounds higher at £4.224bn.
The only bright spot was a positive revision to public borrowing for the last fiscal year, which was revised down to £139.4bn from £141.142bn.