The Chancellor's response to ONS February public sector
finances statistics is below:
Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
"Borrowing is still high because we’re determined to support
households and businesses with rising prices and are spending
about £1500 per household to pay just under half of people's
energy bills this winter.
“What will bring these costs right down is lower inflation, which
is why it remains one of our top priorities to halve it this
year, alongside growing our economy and reducing debt."
Notes to editors
Additional information
- February public sector finances statistics traditionally see
some Self-Assessed Income Tax receipts coming through.
- An individual month of data can be influenced by fluctuations
and one-off factors, and is a provisional estimate (subject to
revision) when first published. Therefore more emphasis should be
placed on data over longer time periods.
- The government’s fiscal rules require that the UK’s national
debt must fall as a share of GDP by the fifth year of a rolling
five-year period; and that public sector borrowing in the same
year must be below 3% of GDP. The OBR have confirmed the
government is on track to meet these rules.
- The OBR’s March forecasts – published last week – take recent
public sector finances outturn data into account.
- Public sector net debt currently stands at over £2.5
trillion. The OBR forecasts that PSND will reach 100.6% of GDP in
2022-23, which would be its highest level since the 1960s.
- Debt has risen over recent decades as a result of external
shocks like the Global Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic
and the energy crisis.
- At £6.5 billion, our headroom to underlying debt falling is
at a historically low level and could be wiped out by a 0.2
percentage point change in GDP growth in 2027-28. It is important
to preserve headroom to avoid the need to rapidly change tax or
spending policy to respond to economic changes.
- At Autumn Statement 2022, the government took difficult, but
necessary, decisions across taxation and spending to restore
economic stability. Without these decisions, debt would have been
on an unsustainable path. Building on this progress, policies set
out in the Spring Budget keep the public finances on a
sustainable path, with debt falling over the medium term.
- The government’s debt projection has significantly improved
since the OBR’s November forecast. By 2027-28, headline and
underlying debt (public sector net debt excluding the Bank of
England) levels are reduced by £53.7 billion (2.3% of GDP) and
£63 billion (2.6% of GDP), respectively.
