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| Government borrowing worse than forecast in November | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Government borrowing rose in November from a year earlier, worse than forecast, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). | |
| Borrowing for the month was £14.2bn, up by £1.3bn compared with November 2014. | Borrowing for the month was £14.2bn, up by £1.3bn compared with November 2014. |
| The ONS said last November's figure was boosted by a one-off gain of £1.1bn in fines from financial institutions for foreign exchange rigging. | The ONS said last November's figure was boosted by a one-off gain of £1.1bn in fines from financial institutions for foreign exchange rigging. |
| Total borrowing for the financial year to date is now £66.9bn, down £6.6bn from the same point last year. | Total borrowing for the financial year to date is now £66.9bn, down £6.6bn from the same point last year. |
| The independent Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that borrowing for the whole of the financial year 2015-16 will be £68.9bn - excluding support for public sector banks, and also excluding new changes to the treatment of housing associations. | |
| That is well below last year's £90.1bn, which would mean Chancellor George Osborne would have achieved his aim of cutting government borrowing. | |
| The ONS said total public sector debt had risen to £1,536.4bn, equivalent to 80.5% of the UK's annual economic output. | |
| 'No festive cheer' | |
| Mr Osborne's overall plan is to eliminate the annual gap between government spending and revenue by the end of this decade. | |
| However, both October and November's monthly figures were worse than expected, giving some economists doubts that the chancellor will get the borrowing figure down to that level. | |
| "There was no festive cheer for the chancellor in November's UK public finances figures," said Paul Hollingsworth, UK economist at Capital Economics, | |
| "Indeed, it now looks almost impossible for Mr Osborne to meet the OBR's forecast for the fiscal year as a whole. | |
| "If we assume that the trend seen so far this year continues, then borrowing for 2015-16 as a whole would come in at around £81bn. " | |
| In the Autumn Statement last month, the OBR forecast borrowing of £49.5bn next year, £24.8bn in 2017-18 and £4.6bn in 2018-19 before the government moves to a surplus of £10.1bn and £14.7bn in the following two years. |