Government borrowing in October 2023 was higher than expected at £14.9 billion, largely pushed up by higher benefit payments, official figures show. But the figures showed a smaller-than-expected deficit across the first half of the financial year. This was due to higher tax receipts in previous months, reflecting higher wages and inflation. It comes as speculation mounts there could be tax cuts in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement on November 22, 2023. Spending on cost-of-living payments and higher interest on public debt – the biggest of any October since monthly records began – meant the public finances saw a bigger shortfall than at the same point last year. Borrowing was up £4.4 billion from a year earlier and the second highest figure for October, behind only 2020’s figure when spending was affected by the pandemic. The borrowing figure – the difference between spending and tax income – was also higher than the £13.7 billion forecasts by the UK’s fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). It was the first-time borrowing has surpassed the OBR’s predictions this financial year. But better-than-expected tax receipts earlier in the financial year have resulted in an overall smaller deficit than the OBR forecast at the time of the spring Budget. The ONS said the government had borrowed £98.3 billion in total since the start of the financial year. The figure was £21.9 billion more than a year earlier, but less than the £115.2 billion that was forecast by the OBR in March. https://shorturl.at/gixMU
Source: IBP