UK state borrowing jumped last month, official data showed Tuesday, as the government cushions consumers from soaring energy bills which the OECD said could further push up inflation.
Public sector net borrowing hit £13.5 billion ($16 billion) in October, up from £9.2 billion a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
It came as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast the UK economy would contract more than any of the world’s seven most advanced nations next year.
The organisation added that the government’s cap on energy bills could have been better targeted, placing the focus on the poorest.
“Better targeting of measures to cushion the impact of high energy prices would lower the budgetary cost, better preserve incentives to save energy, and reduce the pressure on demand at a time of high inflation,” the OECD concluded.
The organisation added that the UK economy would contract 0.4 percent next year.
This was a…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
