Mubasher: The UK’s public sector net borrowing, excluding public banks, came in at GBP 1.7 billion ($2.20 billion) in March, rising GBP 900 million from the same month a year earlier, marking the lowest March level since 2006.

Borrowing over the latest financial year ended last March dropped to GBP 24.7 billion, GBP 17.2 billion lower than the same period of the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) report.

This was the lowest amount borrowed during a financial year since 17 years, while it came above GBP 22.8 billion forecast by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) in its March fiscal outlook.

Public sector net debt, excluding public banks, totalled GBP 1.801 trillion at the end of last month, which was an equivalent to 83.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), registering a year-on-year increase of GBP 22.1 billion or a drop of 1.5% in the GDP.

At the end of March, net debt excluding the Bank of England (BOE), rose GBP 28.1 billion to GBP 1.617 trillion, or a 1% decline of the GDP.

Central government net cash requirement declined by GBP 2.7 billion to GBP 35.5 billion in the current financial year to March, compared with the preceding year, the ONS stated.

By 8:50 am, the GBP/USD pair went down 0.03% to $1.2934, while EUR/GBP ticked down 0.06% to GBP 0.8673.