British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt stands with colleagues from the Treasury outside 11 Downing Street, London, England, holding a courier box in his hand.
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LONDON – Britain posted a record net budget surplus of 16.7 billion pounds ($21.1 billion) in January, according to official data released on Wednesday.
The Office for National Statistics noted that the country’s public finances usually show a surplus in January, unlike other months, as self-assessed annual income tax paid revenue comes in.
The Office for National Statistics said self-assessed income and capital gains tax receipts totaled £33 billion in January, £1.8 billion less than the same period last year.
Total government tax revenue reached a record £90.8 billion, an increase of £2.9 billion on January 2023.
Government borrowing for the financial year to the end of January 2024 was £96.6bn, down £3.1bn on the same 10 months last year and £9.2bn below the Independent Office’s previous forecast of £105.8bn. Budget Responsibility.
The Office for National Statistics highlighted that public debt is estimated to be around 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.
“We have provided hundreds of billions of dollars to pay wages, support businesses and protect lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have continued to do so during Putin’s invasion,” Laura Trott, the government’s principal secretary to the Treasury, said in a statement. Pay half of people’s energy bills after Ukraine.”
“But we can’t leave future generations footing the bill, which is why we’ve made the tough decision to help reduce borrowing beyond what the budget office expected in March.”
Wednesday’s figures mark the last set of public finance figures before Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt delivers his spring budget on March 6, which outlines the government’s fiscal policy for the year.
With a general election due to be held before the end of January 2025, with the main opposition Labor Party leading by more than 20 percentage points in opinion polls, there is widespread speculation as to whether Hunter will try to find room for tax cuts next month.
Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors, said: “The recent UK by-election results suggest that Labor continues to have the advantage heading into the general election and that Hunt will be under pressure to propose tax cuts.”
“However, with his hands largely tied by the state of the country’s finances, investors must be realistic about prospects of this magnitude or be prepared for even more brutal cuts to Britain’s already stretched public services.”
