UK government annual borrowing hit a high not seen since the aftermath of the second world war as Covid-19 forced the government to spend to prevent an economic meltdown, official figures showed.
The Treasury borrowed £303.1bn in the year to the end of March, the Office for National Statistics said in its first estimates for the public finances.
The figure was £246.1bn more than the previous year and was equal to 14.5% of national output. The last time borrowing as a share of GDP was higher was in 1946 when the figure was 15.2%.
Borrowing was £24.3bn less than £327.4bn forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government’s fiscal watchdog, in March. The public finances were also hit by a £34.2bn drop in tax collected with big declines in VAT, business rates and fuel duty.
The borrowing figure is likely to rise as the ONS builds in write-offs from government-backed loans issued during the pandemic.
