Coronavirus: UK borrowed twice as much in first quarter of this year as in whole of 2019, new figures show
Debt soared to its highest level since March 1961, the ONS found.
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The Government borrowed twice as much in the first quarter of this year as it did in the whole of 2019 as ministers raced to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, new figures show.
The latest public sector finance data from the Office for National Statistics show that borrowing soared to £127.9bn between April and June this year — “more than double that borrowed in the whole of the last financial year”.
Quarterly borrowing was up by more than £103.9bn on the same period last year, and hit the highest April to June total since records began in 1993, the ONS reveals.
Debt meanwhile soared to its highest level since March 1961, rising to 99.6% of UK gross domestic product — an increase of 18.9% compared to the same time last year.
The figures come after a raft of big-ticket Government measures to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, and cover the height of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown.
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