020 7898 0500September’s public sector net borrowing figures were released on Friday and showed that borrowing was £4.1 billion last month, which was less than the £4.5 billion analysts had predicted. The deficit shrank considerably to £-3.26 billion from £-4.76 billion in the previous month and much better than the £-4.60 billion the markets had expected.
It is the lowest borrowing for the month of September since 2007 and ultimately means that, halfway through the fiscal year, borrowing is £10.7 billion less than in the same period in 2017. As the last set of readings before Philip Hammond presents his budget on 29 October, now might be the time for him to start putting some cash into the system. Theresa May declared that austerity was over, but there has been debate over how the money will be found. Perhaps Hammond will give us all a bit of a bonus just before Christmas.
There are no major economic releases from the UK, eurozone or America today, but tomorrow we will see the CBI business optimism index and industrial trends orders. The latter is expected to hold steady at -1. Wednesday sees the finance mortgage approvals for September and that’s pretty much it for the rest of the week. Brexit will likely continue to dominate sterling movements as well as the headlines.
