Coronavirus measures force UK borrowing up £62bn in April
UK borrowing rose by £62.1bn in April alone as the government paid people’s wages and loaned businesses cash to survive the coronavirus lockdown, statistics showed today.
Coronavirus measures like the job retention scheme to pay people’s wages, and coronavirus loans for businesses of all sizes, pushed UK borrowing to an all-time high last month.
The £62.1bn figure for April almost matches the £62.5bn that UK borrowing totalled for the entirety of the previous year, April 2019 to March 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
And ONS statisticians revised up March’s borrowing figures by £11.7bn to £14.7bn due to a slump in tax receipts from struggling businesses and National Insurance contributions from workers made redundant.
That left the UK’s debt pile with its largest ever increase of £118.4bn compared to April 2019, leaving debt at £1.9 trillion – or 97.7 per cent of GDP.
More to follow.