British finance minister Alistair Darling raised his forecast for government borrowing on Monday to 78 billion pounds ($116.3 billion) in 2008/9 from an estimate of 43 billion pounds made in March. He predicted borrowing of 118 billion pounds in 2009/10 - up from 38 billion pounds in March, the equivalent of 8 percent of GDP.
Borrowing will fall from 2010 to 105 billion pounds, then 87 billion pounds, 70 billion pounds and 54 billion pounds, Darling said. "And by 2015/16, we will again be borrowing only to invest," he told parliament. He said Britain's net debt, as a share of GDP, would increase from 41 percent this year, to 48 percent in 2009/10, 53 percent in 2010/11, before peaking at 57 percent in 2013/14.