UK government finances back on track as George Osborne tries to balance the books
The government borrowed £1.6bn less in September than it did in the same month in 2014, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics yesterday.
Government borrowing since April, which tends to be a better indicator of state finances than single monthly figures that can be volatile, is down £7.5bn to £46.3bn.
Chancellor George Osborne is aiming to balance the state books by 2020. “After poor public finance data in August, the chancellor will take some cheer from [the] data,” said PWC chief economist John Hawksworth.
He added the swing from August’s disappointing figures, when government borrowing was thrown off target, gave Osborne a good chance of hitting the £70bn annual borrowing forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the state’s fiscal watchdog.