Aug202009 Today’s borrowing figures are horrendous. July is usually a month when strong revenues exceed monthly spending. Instead the UK government borrowed another £8 billion in the month. In the April-July period last year the government borrowed an extra £16 billion. This year they have borrowed an extra £50 billion. It means we are on course to exceed the eye wateringly large sums they forecast for this year’s total borrowing. Spending is up a massive £19 billion on last year in the first four months, and revenue is down a predictable £21 billlion thanks to the VAT cuts and the fall in activity. No wonder the Governor thinks we ought to print some more money - who is going to lend us all this? Interest rate increases to get people to buy more governent debt will be the inevitable result of this failure to hit very relaxed targets for spending and borrowing. This will be the mother and father of all crowding outs, as the cash has to go to the public sector to meet these huge bills. The private sector will continue to be squeezed.
Who will lend us a few billions to tide us over this week?
Thursday, 20 August 2009
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