“Stronger self-assessment tax receipts, typical for July, was not enough to put the public sector borrowing back on track this fiscal year. The gap between projected and actual borrowing since April has remained at around £2.3bn.
“Short-term measures to help with the cost of living and the economic fallout stemming from the conflict with Iran are likely to keep near term borrowing elevated.
“Looking ahead to the Autumn Budget, while the Chancellor may be tempted to use leeway in the fiscal rules to boost spending, the market’s appetite for more debt is limited, especially at a time when the UK Government faces the highest borrowing costs in the G7.”
