2021.04.2306:42:00UTC+00UK Budget Logs Biggest March Deficit On Record

The UK budget posted its biggest deficit on record for the month of March, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, increased by GBP 21 billion from the last year to GBP 28 billion. This was the highest March borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.

Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks, in the FYE March 2021 totaled GBP 303.1 billion, which was GBP 246.1 billion more than in the FYE March 2020 and the highest nominal public sector borrowing in any financial year since records began in the FYE March 1947.

At the end of March, public sector net debt was GBP 2,141.7 billion 2021, or around 97.7 percent of gross domestic product, maintaining a level not seen since the early 1960s.

The ONS said extra funding required by government coronavirus support schemes combined with reduced cash receipts and a fall in GDP have all helped push public sector net debt as a ratio of GDP to levels last seen in the early 1960s.