2020.01.2209:48:00UTC+00UK December Public Sector Net Borrowing Falls

The U. K. government borrowing for December decreased from a year ago and was less than expected, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Wednesday. The public sector net borrowing, or PSNB, excluding state-owned banks fell to GBP 4.765 billion from GBP 4.981 billion in the same month of 2018. Economists had forecast a borrowing of GBP 5.200 billion.

The public sector net cash requirement in December decreased to GBP 16.596 billion from GBP 22.085 billion a year ago. The cumulative PSNB for the April to December period was GBP 54.6 billion versus GBP 50.6 billion in the same period of 2018.

The public sector net debt excluding public sector banks totaled GBP 1,819.0 billion or 80.8 percent of GDP at the end of December. This marked an increase of GBP 35.5 billion from the December 2018 figure.