Government borrowing hits April record

• Pressure on George Osborne as borrowing hits £7.7bn • Jump in figure despite £3.5bn boost from bank bonus tax • Rightwingers seek tougher action over cuts Government borrowing last month hit the highest figure ever recorded for the month of April, news which is likely to intensify the pressure on George Osborne from the right of the Conservative party to step up public spending cuts. A fall in tax receipts got the new fiscal year off to a disappointing start with public sector net borrowing hitting £7.7bn compared to £5.3bn in April last year. Excluding support for banks and other “financial interventions”, public sector net borrowing was £10bn, £2.7bn higher than in April 2010, when net borrowing was £7.3bn. The overall figure for UK debt reached £910bn, or 60.1% of GDP, up from £765.5bn, which was equal to 53% of GDP at the end of April 2010. The Office for National Statistics said the one-off bank payroll tax boosted accrued tax receipts by £3.5bn in April 2010, sparking concern among analysts that an already poor set of figures was flattered by the tax on City bonuses. Hetal Mehta, economic analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, said: “The public finances have got off to a pretty bad start this year, with borrowing higher than a year ago even though ‘special factors’ added £3.5bn to tax receipts this year.

Posted by on May 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.