According to the report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in January, net borrowing by the public sector, excluding state-owned banks (PSCB ex) was in surplus by 16.7 billion pounds, more than double the surplus of January 2023 and the largest surplus since monthly records began in 1993 in nominal terms. Each January tax receipts are always higher than in other months owing to receipts from self-assessed taxes, and this often leads to a surplus. However, the surplus was lower than economists' forecasts (18.7 billion pounds). Meanwhile, the deficit for December was revised to 7.37 billion pounds from 7.77 billion pounds.
Central government's receipts increased by 3.9 billion pounds compared to January 2023, to 111.4 billion pounds. Meanwhile, the central government's total expenditure was 102.6 billion pounds, 1.6 billion pounds more than in January 2023.
PSNB ex in the financial year to January was 96.6 billion pounds, 3.1 billion pounds less than in the same ten-month period a year ago. This is the first time in the present financial year that year-to-date borrowing has been lower than in the equivalent period in the last financial year, partly because central government receipts have been revised.
Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks at the end of January was 2,646.5 billion pounds and was provisionally estimated at around 96.5% of the UK's GDP. This is 1.8% points higher than in January 2023 and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s. Excluding the Bank of England, public sector net debt was 2,417.6 billion pounds, or around 88.1% of GDP.