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| Public borrowing at £7.7bn in October | Public borrowing at £7.7bn in October |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Government borrowing fell to £7.7bn in October, official figures show, down £0.2bn from a year earlier. | Government borrowing fell to £7.7bn in October, official figures show, down £0.2bn from a year earlier. |
| Between April and October, government borrowing was £64.1bn, an increase of £3.7bn from the same period last year. | Between April and October, government borrowing was £64.1bn, an increase of £3.7bn from the same period last year. |
| While unemployment has fallen, income tax receipts have also fallen, the Office for National Statistics said. | While unemployment has fallen, income tax receipts have also fallen, the Office for National Statistics said. |
| Slow wage growth and large numbers of people earning less than the threshold for income tax may have affected receipts. | Slow wage growth and large numbers of people earning less than the threshold for income tax may have affected receipts. |
| The borrowing figure for October was slightly better than analysts' expectations of £7.9bn. | |
| At the Budget in March, Chancellor George Osborne said he aimed to cut borrowing by more than 10% in the coming year, but borrowing for the financial year to date is 6.1% above the same period last year. | |
| The figures are the last before the chancellor delivers his Autumn Statement on 3 December. | |
| While the borrowing figure for October was slightly better than analysts' expectations, economists warned Mr Osborne was unlikely to meet his targets. | |
| "Despite October's improvement, the chancellor still looks hugely challenged to meet his fiscal targets for 2014-15," said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight. | |
| "So while he will be able to trumpet the UK's ongoing healthy economic performance, particularly compared to Europe, he will almost certainly have to acknowledge that he is going to clearly under-shoot his fiscal targets for 2014-15." | |
| Total public sector net debt reached £1,449.2 billion, or 79.5% of GDP, last month, the ONS said. |