Public sector borrowing hits second-highest October level since records began

This was also £4.4bn more than the figure recorded during the same month in 2022.  

Meanwhile, in the financial year-to-October 2023, the borrowing rate was £98.3bn – £21.9bn more than in same seven-month period last year. It’s, however, £16.9bn less than the £115.2bn figure forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in March.  

Turning to public sector net debt, this hit £2.6tn at of last month, and was provisionally estimated at around 97.8% of the UK’s annual gross domestic product – around 2.3% higher than in October 2022, and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s.  

Additionally, excluding the Bank of England, public sector net debt was at £2.3tn – or around 88.6%. Alongside this, estimates of public sector net worth was in deficit by £715.9bn at the end of October 2023, this compares with a £533.9bn deficit at the same point last year.

As for the central government’s net cash requirement, this hit £18.2bn last month – £9.6bn more than during the same month last year, and £1.9bn more than the £16.3bn forecast by the OBR in March.