Tourists view St. Paul’s Cathedral from rooftops in the City of London, Britain, Thursday, March 2, 2023.
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LONDON – Britain’s public sector net debt surpassed 100% of the country’s GDP in May for the first time since 1961, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
Net public sector debt (excluding state-owned banks) was £2.567 trillion ($3.28 trillion), or 100.1% of GDP.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that government borrowing totaled 20.045 billion pounds in May, beating consensus estimates of 19.5 billion pounds in a Reuters poll of economists.
PwC economist Divya Sridhar noted that this marked a £3bn drop from April’s figure, but was still more than double that of May 2022 and the second-highest May borrowing figure on record.
Britain’s annual inflation rate was unchanged in May from the previous month, the ONS announced on Wednesday, defying expectations for a slight slowdown in the economy and putting further pressure on the government and consumers.
“This is likely to drive spending through higher debt interest payments and inflation-linked benefits and tax credits,” Sridhar said.