LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s statistics office said on Wednesday that government borrowing in the previous and current fiscal years was a combined 3 billion pounds ($4.02 billion) lower than previously reported after a value added tax receipt data error was found.
“Correcting for the error reduces public sector net borrowing by between 200 million pounds and 500 million pounds per month within the period affected, resulting in a reduction in borrowing of 1 billion pounds for the financial year ending March 2025 and a reduction of 2 billion pounds for the financial year to date,” the Office for National Statistics said.
Britain’s borrowing in the 2024/25 financial year stood at just over 146 billion pounds and totalled almost 84 billion pounds in the first five months of the current one.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to raise taxes in her budget on November in order to remain on course to hit her target to fix the public finances. ($1 = 0.7468 pounds)
(Reporting by Alistair SmoutWriting by William Schomberg; editing by Sarah Young)
