According to the report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in December, net borrowing by the public sector, excluding state-owned banks (PSCB ex), amounted to 7.77 billion pounds, down from November (13.71 billion pounds, revised from 14.33 billion pounds). Economists had expected the deficit to rise to 14.0 billion pounds. The ONS said it was the lowest December borrowing since 2019. Central government's receipts increased by 4.8 billion pounds compared to December 2022, to 81.5 billion pounds. Meanwhile, the central government's total expenditure was 86.1 billion pounds, 5.4 billion pounds less than in December 2022.
PSNB ex in the financial year to December was 119.1 billion pounds, 11.1 billion pounds more than in the same period last year.
Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks at the end of December was 2,685.6 billion pounds and was provisionally estimated at around 97.7% of the UK's GDP. This is 1.9% points higher than in December 2022 and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s. Excluding the Bank of England, public sector net debt was 2,437.9 billion pounds, or around 88.7% of GDP.