Borrowing ahead of Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts 21 August 2019 Richard Hughes, Macroeconomic Policy Unit Research Associate at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Borrowing was £6 billion higher in the first four months of this year than the same period last year. The Office for Budget Responsibility had been expecting a 29 per cent increase in borrowing for this year as a whole, but we’re seeing borrowing up twice that so far, at 60 per cent. Crucially these higher borrowing figures come before recent decisions by the new government to turn on the spending taps, and complicate the government’s intention to increase public spending in the September spending round if they also want to remain committed to the current fiscal rules.”
