British public borrowing hits record high

British government borrowing widened unexpectedly in August to hit a record high for the month, official data showed on Tuesday. The public sector net borrowing requirement jumped to 15.3 billion pounds (18.1 billion euros, 23.8 billion dollars) compared with 13.5 billion pounds in August 2009, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
Analysts had expected a fall in net borrowing to 13 billion pounds, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. The government's preferred measure of borrowing, which excludes the cost of massive recent bank bailouts, grew to 15.9 billion pounds in August from 14.1 billion pounds a year earlier. "The UK's public sector net borrowing figures are not as good as hoped. In fact, both measures hit record highs for August," said ING Bank analyst James Knightley. "Interest payments have shot up and were 2.5 billion pounds in August 2010 versus August 2009.