Chancellor responds to August's public sector finance statistics

The Chancellor has responded to ONS public sector finance statistics for August 2023.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said:

“These numbers show why after helping families in the pandemic we now need to balance the books. That becomes much easier when inflation is under control because higher inflation pushes up interest rates, so we need to stick to the plan to get it down."

Notes to editors

Additional information:

• We are on track to get debt falling – with the OBR forecasting that the government will meet the debt to GDP fiscal rule in 2027-28 with headroom of £6.5 billion. Borrowing is also falling in every year of the OBR forecast.
• We are keeping spending under control through the Efficiencies and Savings Review, with more efficiencies that build on the 5% target set at the Spending Review 2021. The Chancellor has also announced a Public Sector Productivity Programme to assess how government can increase public sector productivity growth.
• Changes to growth, inflation and interest rates all put our headroom at risk and we will not be deterred from our focus to get debt falling over the medium term –providing the foundations for sustainable growth and building important fiscal buffers to respond to shocks.
• The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, will present the Autumn Statement 2023 to Parliament on 22 November. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) have been commissioned to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast to be presented to Parliament alongside his Autumn Statement.
• Figures presented as a percentage of GDP in this release use quarterly GDP outturn data published on 11th August. Revisions to GDP as part of the annual ONS ‘Blue Book’ process are due for publication on 29th September, and any changes will be reflected in next month’s PSF release.