UK’s Debt Rises By £227.6bn, Hits Record High Of £2trn

UK Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak

United Kingdom’s government debt has surged above £2trn for the first time in the country’s history, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.

The rise in the government’ public debt follows large state borrowing induced by the Coronavirus pandemic.

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The country had last week slipped into deep economic recession for the first time in 11 years after quarters of successive shrink in it’s Gross Domestic Product, official data reveals.

The British government at the end of July had accumulated total debt of £2trn ($2.61trn) ONS said.

UK debt according to the official release surged by £227.6bn against the £1.77trn as of July 2019.

In July this year alone, UK borrowing was estimated at £26.7bn.

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UK Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak, in a separate statement said that the Covid-19 pandemic crisis had put the public finances under significant pressure.

He said, “This crisis has put the public finances under significant strain as we have seen a hit to our economy and taken action to support millions of jobs, businesses and livelihoods.”

He added that without the support from its borrowing, “things would have been far worse.”

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