--UK Apr PSNCR surplus 4.176 bln stlg
--UK Apr PSNCR surplus slightly smaller than market forecasts
--UK Apr PSNB measure surplus 923 mln stlg
--UK Apr central-government surplus 4.884 bln stlg
--UK Apr current budget surplus 1.446 bln stlg

London, May 21 (BridgeNews) - The U.K. public finances kicked off the new fiscal year with a healthy surplus despite continuing strong growth in public spending, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Monday. The public sector net cash requirement showed a surplus of 4.176 billion sterling, only slightly below the 4.5-billion-sterling surplus markets had expected. However, while receipts were up just under 1% from April last year, departmental spending rose 7.4%.
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The April PSNCR surplus was smaller than that posted in April last year, mainly because of lower tobacco receipts as this year the tobacco companies did not "forestall" tobacco tax--a device that they used in 2000 to avoid having to pay higher budget duties.
At the same time as the public finance figures, the ONS also published its latest trade data while the Bank of England and the major lending organizations published figures about the growth in the money supply and lending.
The following are economists' reactions to the data.

Philip Shaw, economist at Investec:

"It's more or less as expected. The PSNCR figures show a surplus that was a little smaller than had been expected, essentially for two reasons: customs and excise receipts were lower than in the same month a year ago, while there was a fairly strong number on spending, which implies that some of the spending measures may be coming through.
"The trade figures were really very much as expected, the major thing there being that we are now running a small deficit with the rest of the EU compared with a small surplus in the final quarter of last year. That is almost certainly a reflection of the eurozone economy slowing down.
"The M4 figures had a weakish component, but whether that is due to a fundamental slowdown in lending or the erratic results of one month's figures is unclear. The figures from the building societies and the major banks indicate that we are in line for another robust outturn on mortgage lending.
"Putting that all together does suggest that what we have got is a slowing economy domestically, which is due to the international slowdown, and that the consumer is taking over as the primary driver of economic activity." End
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