UK government borrowing fell to £8.7 billion in November, down £0.2 billion from the year before.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that public sector net borrowing fell to £8.7 billion in November 2017, which is the lowest November total since before the financial crisis.
Total public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks and the central bank, was £1.57 trillion at the end of the month, down £23.5 billion and marking 76.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
This largely due to a £65.5 billion reduction following the shift in English housing associations from the public to the private sector.
The ONS noted that this would result in a £0.3 billion per month fall in public sector net borrowing.
Nevertheless, net debt including the Bank of England rose, with the total up by £72.2 billion on November last year, reaching £1.73 trillion and over 80 percent of GDP.
Back in November, According to the chancellor’s Autumn Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had forecast full year borrowing for 2017-18 of £49.9 billion. This was in anticipation of the fact that January always results in a surplus month for the public finances, in light of annual income tax payments.
Samuel Tombs of Pantheon commented: ”The Chancellor can go on his Christmas vacation content that the public finances have weathered the economy’s slowdown well this year. But with slow growth likely to persist next year and little margin for error now left to meet fiscal rules, it’s unlikely that [he] will be able to soften his fiscal plans materially further again.”
The figures follow the International Monetary Fund’s decision to downgrade the UK’s economic forecast, in light of continued Brexit-related uncertainty.
The IMF said it now expects growth of 1.6 percent for 2017, down slightly from previous forecasts of 1.7 percent.
It anticipates growth to slow even more so into next year, dipping to 1.5 percent.