LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s borrowing in the financial year to date has surged past the official forecasts that underpin the tax and spending plans of finance minister Rachel Reeves, compounding the challenge facing Reeves as she prepares for her November budget.
Official data published on Friday showed government borrowing between April and August totalled 83.8 billion pounds ($113.39 billion), 11.4 billion pounds more than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility earlier this year.
The Office for National Statistics said in August alone, the government borrowed almost 18 billion pounds.
The OBR had pencilled in an overshoot of 12.5 billion pounds for August. A Reuters poll of economists showed a median forecast of a 12.75 billion-pound deficit.
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by William James)
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