UK public sector borrowing drops in February

Public-sector borrowing in the UK dropped significantly in February and was down year-on-year for the fourth straight month, according to figures released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics.

Net borrowing excluding public-sector banks totalled £8.4bn last month, £3.4bn less than in February 2023 and around half of that in February 2021 during the Covid pandemic.

Data released last month showed that net borrowing was in surplus by £16.7bn in January, the largest surplus since monthly records began and more than double the surplus of January 2023. Tax receipts in the month of January are usually higher than the rest of the year as a result of the self-assessment deadline.

Meanwhile, for the financial year to February 2024 cumulatively, borrowing totalled £106.8bn, some £4.6bn less than the same 11 months the previous year – the lowest for four years in nominal terms, the ONS said.

Public-sector net debt excluding public-sector banks increased to £2.66bn by the end of February, up £157.4bn from February 2023. As such, debt as a percentage of GDP rose to 97.1% , up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier.