UK borrowing in April at $52.5B

By Gokhan Kurtaran

LONDON (AA) - The UK government borrowed £31.7 billion ($52.5 billion) in April, the country's statistical authority reported on Tuesday.

The figure was the second-highest for April since the records began, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

On an annual basis, however, the public debt fell £15.6 billion from £47.3 billion to £31.7 billion.

In April 2020, the UK's public debt hit a record of £47.3 billion, excluding borrowing by public sector banks.

The country's public debt in the 2020-2021 financial year – from April 2020 till this April – hit £303.1 billion, the highest annual borrowing by the UK since the end of World War II.

The UK’s total public debt reached over $3 trillion at the end of April, equaling 98.5% of its GDP.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak's room for maneuvering on austerity policy will depend on the country’s long-term GDP target.

*Writing by Yunus Girgin in Ankara