Britain’s official state borrowing hits August high

British state borrowing hit a record high level for the month of August, official data showed yesterday, sparking concern that the government could miss its deficit target for the year.

Public sector net borrowing stood at £14.41 billion (€18.02 billion) last month, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

That compared with £14.37 billion in August 2011. The data excludes the temporary effects of financial interventions such as bank bailouts.

Market expectations had been for public borrowing of £15.2 billion in August, according to analysts polled by Dow Jones.

Britain’s independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has set the Government’s borrowing target for the 2012/2013 financial year, which began in April, at £120 billion.

“August’s UK public finances figures suggest that net borrowing is still on course to substantially overshoot the OBR’s forecast for 2012/13,” said Capital Economics analyst Martin Beck.

He added: “If the trend in the first five months of the fiscal year continues, borrowing for 2012/13 will substantially overshoot the OBR’s forecast”.