Britain borrowed more than expected to balance the books in February.
Public sector net borrowing (excluding public sector banks) reached £8.4 billion for February, surpassing economists’ expectations of £5.95 billion.
However, it marks a drop of around £3.4 billion compared to February 2023, when the deficit stood at £11.8 billion.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) said Government spending had been boosted by £2billion of cost of living payments.
Inflation had also lifted the value of spending on social benefits as well as tax receipts.
The Office for National Statistics noted this is the fourth month running when borrowing was lower than a year ago.
This leaves the national debt at £2.659trillion, or around 97.1 percent of GDP.
Senior ONS statistician Jessica Barnaby said: “This was the fourth consecutive month in which borrowing was lower than in the same month a year ago, with growth in tax receipts exceeding growth in spending.
“Across the financial year to date, borrowing was the lowest it has been for four years. Relative to the size of our economy, debt remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s.”
Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the higher-than-predicted monthly borrowing data means the Government could overshoot forecasts for the year to March.
“This means that borrowing in March will have to come in at just £7.2 billion for the OBR’s full-year forecast of £114billion to be met.
“Given that borrowing last March was £16.9billion, that seems very unlikely.
“That said, we still expect borrowing to fall more quickly beyond 2025/26 than the OBR expects. This may mean the Government squeezes in another pre-election giveaway in a fiscal event later this year.”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott said: “It was right that this Government provided billions pounds to support individuals and businesses during Covid, and pay half of people’s energy bills after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“But we can’t leave future generations to pick up the tab. The plan is working.”
