Government borrows £18.8bn in October as debt to GDP remains elevated

The government borrowed the second highest amount of money on record in October as the pandemic continues to hit the public finances.

The government borrowed £18.8bn in October, the second highest monthly figure since record began in 1993.

The borrowing figure was much higher than expected. Experts had expected public sector borrowing to fall to £13.8bn, down from £21bn in September.

A strong tax take tempered the amount of money the government borrowed.

Receipts climbed 6.2 per cent to over £65bn last month, driven by economic activity continuing to rebound from the Covid-19 crisis.

The debt-to-GDP ratio, a measure of the scale of debt the UK has on its books, remained historically high at 95.1 per cent.