The Office for National Statistics has revealed a 13-year low in public sector borrowing.
Public borrowing for May was £5 billion, £1.3 billion lower than expected by economists and lower than borrowing since 2005.
The numbers have come as Chancellor Philip Hammond maintains his commitment to reducing debt and increase investment to the NHS.
Hammond said in a speech on Thursday: “We are getting debt down, while investing in Britain’s infrastructure, supporting our vital public services, and helping hard-working families across the United Kingdom.”
“And this week, the prime minister announced a five year NHS funding package that will boost spending on health by over £20 billion a year in real terms in England alone.”
“So, as the prime minister said, across the nation taxpayers will have to contribute a bit more in a fair and balanced way to support the NHS we all use.”
“We also confirmed we would stick to our fiscal rule and continue to reduce debt,” he added.
Borrowing in April and May this year totalled £11.8 billion. This was £4.1 billion less than in the same period last year and was also the lowest in this April and May since 2007.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that whilst the figures released by the Office for National Statistics might “look fantastic”, they would not continue at this rate.
“Central government tax receipts rose by just 3 percent year over year in April, below the 3.6 percent full-year increase predicted by the OBR. Lower-than-anticipated borrowing is not a sign of a healthy economy,” he said.
In a statement, the OBR said: “Spending data can be volatile from month to month and prone to revision, so it is still too early in the financial year to draw meaningful conclusions about the public finances for the year as a whole.”