The UK budget deficit widened by 62pc in September 2003 compared to the same month a year earlier, according to National Statistics. Figures today said there was a public sector net cash requirement of STG8.63bn in September, compared with a STG5.33bn requirement a year earlier. The statistics office said the main factor behind the increase was higher departmental spending but added that it could be misleading due to payment timing factors. The September requirement was the highest ever September reading and was well above expectations of a STG6.7bn reading.
Public sector net borrowing, the government's preferred measure of the public sector's financial position, stood at E2.81bn in September, compared with an upwardly revised STG5.02bn in August and STG3.21bn a year earlier. In the fiscal half-year to September, borrowing stood at STG22.5bn, up from STG13.5bn a year ago and marking the highest half-year figure since 1994/5, when the deficit stood at STG25.3bn. The huge rise in the half-year deficit has increased concern that Chancellor Gordon Brown will overshoot his full year deficit forecast of STG27bn, issued during the Budget in April.//www.fxcentre.com