LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s borrowing in the first seven months of the financial year was the highest on record except during the COVID pandemic, according to data published ahead of finance minister Rachel Reeves budget next week which is expected to raise taxes.
Government borrowing between April and October totalled 116.8 billion pounds ($152.90 billion), about 10 billion pounds more than forecast by Britain’s budget watchdog earlier this year.
It was the highest borrowing since the same period in 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the ONS said.
In October alone, the government borrowed a bigger than expected 17.4 billion pounds.
The government’s forecasters at the Office for Budget Responsibility had pencilled in an overshoot of 14.4 billion pounds for October. A Reuters poll of economists showed a median forecast of a 15 billion-pound deficit.
The ONS said it had revised down government borrowing in the first six months of the financial year by a relatively small 400 million pounds.
($1 = 0.7639 pounds)
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Kate Holton)
