UK debt climbs in June amid coronavirus pandemic

According to the report from Office for National Statistics, borrowing (public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks, PSNB ex) in June 2020 is estimated to have been £35.5 billion, roughly five times (or £28.3 billion more) that in June 2019 and the third highest borrowing in any month on record (records began in 1993).

Provisional estimates indicate that borrowing in the first quarter of the current financial year (April to June 2020) was more than double that borrowed in the whole of the last financial year (April 2019 to March 2020).

Borrowing in the first quarter of this financial year is estimated to have been £127.9 billion, £103.9 billion more than in the same period last year and the highest borrowing in any April to June period on record (records began in 1993), with each of the months from April to June being records.

Borrowing estimates are subject to greater than usual uncertainty; borrowing in May 2020 was revised down by £9.8 billion to £45.5 billion, largely because of stronger than previously estimated tax receipts and National Insurance contributions.

Central government net cash requirement (excluding UK Asset Resolution Ltd, Network Rail and the Covid Corporate Financing Facility) in June 2020 was £47.1 billion, £33.6 billion more than in June 2019 and the highest cash requirement in any June on record (records began in 1984).

Central government net cash requirement in the current financial year-to-date (April to June 2020) was £174.0 billion, £153.7 billion more than in the same period last year and the highest cash requirement in any April to June period on record (records began in 1984).

Debt (public sector net debt excluding public sector banks, PSND ex) at the end of June 2020 was £1,983.8 billion, £195.5 billion more than at the same point last year.

Debt at the end of June 2020 as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was 99.6%, an increase of 18.9 percentage points compared with the same point last year and the highest debt to GDP ratio since the financial year ending March 1961.