Britain’s fight against coronavirus has sent the country’s national debt above £2trn for the first time ever, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Friday.
Government borrowings in July rose by £27.6bn compared to a year ago, the ONS said, taking the total so far in the current fiscal year to £150.5bn.
Economists said the UK's additional debt in this financial year so far is now close to the largest annual amount ever borrowed, which was £158.3bn in 2009/10.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak commented: "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. Without that support things would have been far worse.
"Today's figures are a stark reminder that we must return our public finances to a sustainable footing over time, which will require taking difficult decisions.”
There were a couple of crumbs of comfort. June’s borrowing number was revised down by £6bn to £29.5bn, while separate numbers for UK retail sales showed a strong recovery.
“Retail sales have now regained all the ground lost during the height of the coronavirus restrictions as more stores open for trade and online sales remain at historically high levels,” said the ONS.
“While still below their pre-pandemic levels, both fuel and clothing sales continued to recover. Meanwhile, food sales fell back from their recent peaks as people started to venture back into pubs and restaurants.”
Retail sales volumes in July increased by 3.6% over June and are 3.0% above pre-pandemic levels in February 2020, the ONS noted.