Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, holds the dispatch box as he stands with colleagues from the Treasury outside 11 Downing Street in London, UK.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
LONDON – The United Kingdom posted a record net budget surplus of 16.7 billion pounds ($21.1 billion) in January, according to official figures released on Wednesday.
The Office for National Statistics noted that the country’s public finances are usually in surplus in January, unlike other months, due to receipts from self-assessed annual income tax payments.
Combined self-assessed income and capital gains tax revenue totaled £33 billion in January, a fall of £1.8 billion on the same period last year, according to the ONS.
The state’s total tax revenue was a record £90.8 billion, up £2.9 billion compared to January 2023.
Government borrowing was £96.6 billion in the financial year to the end of January 2024, £3.1 billion less than the same 10-month period a year ago and £9.2 billion less than that previously reported by the independent Office for 105 .8 billion pounds predicted budget responsibility.
Public debt was estimated at about 96.5% of annual gross domestic product, up 1.8 percentage points from January 2023 and remaining at levels last seen in the early 1960s, the ONS highlighted.
“We have committed hundreds of billions to pay wages, support businesses and protect lives during the coronavirus crisis, and to pay half of people’s energy bills after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” said the Treasury Department’s chief secretary Government, Laura Trott, in a statement.
“But we can’t leave the math to future generations, which is why we have made difficult decisions to reduce borrowing compared to the OBR’s expectations in March.”
Wednesday’s figures represent the final public finance data before Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt delivers his spring budget on March 6, which sets out the government’s financial policy for the year.
With a general election due before the end of January 2025 and the main opposition Labor party leading by more than 20 points in the polls, there has been much speculation about whether Hunt will try to find scope for tax cuts next month.
“With recent U.K. by-election results suggesting Labor remains at an advantage heading into the general election, Hunt will be under pressure to offer tax cuts,” said Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors.
“However, with its hands largely tied by the country’s financial position, investors need to be realistic about the prospects for the scale or prepare for even more drastic cuts to the UK’s already under-stretched public services.”
Source link
2024-02-21 08:37:51
www.cnbc.com
