Provisional estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the Treasury borrowed £120.7 billion in the fiscal year ending in March 2024, a decrease of £7.6 billion from the previous year.
But just one month before, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had predicted a sum that was £6.6 billion higher.
In March, the UK’s total government debt was approximately 98.3% of GDP, up 2.6 percentage points from the previous year and at levels not seen since the early 1960s.
“If the chancellor was hoping March’s figures would provide more scope for tax cuts at a fiscal event later this year, he will have been disappointed,” Capital Economics economist Ruth Gregory stated.
Just by looking at the larger-than-expected budget deficit for 2023–2024 and the recent increase in market interest rates, he would have even less fiscal ‘headroom’ (maybe around £5 billion) than the £8.9 billion that was available for tax cuts in March.
