Interest on UK government debt reaches record high

Interest on UK government debt reaches record high


Against the backdrop of rising inflation, the costs of the British authorities associated with the payment of interest on public debt have risen sharply. By data According to the UK National Statistics Service (ONS), in August the amount of interest paid on public debt was £8.2 billion. This is £1.5 billion more than in the same period a year earlier, and the highest figure for August since 1997 when the ONS started collecting these statistics. The size of the public debt itself (excluding state banks) at the end of August reached £ 2.427 trillion, which is 96.6% of British GDP. Compared to August 2021, the public debt has increased by £195.2 billion.

Public sector net borrowing in August was £11.8bn, £2.6bn less than in August 2021, but £6.5bn more than in August 2019, i.e. before the start of the pandemic. Government current spending last August was £73.2bn, almost unchanged from August 2021. Government revenues last August totaled £69.6bn, up £5.6bn from a year earlier. Of this amount, tax revenues amounted to £51.4 billion.

The British pound reacted to the publication of these data with a short-term fall against the dollar to $ 1.1349, which was the lowest level since 1985.

Alena Miklashevskaya



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