Borrowing rise threatens AAA status

Jan 22 2013

Britain's coveted AAA rating has come under further pressure after official figures showed another leap in public sector borrowing.

The figure, excluding financial interventions such as bank bailouts, was £15.4 billion in December, compared with £14.8 billion in the same month the previous year.

It is slightly worse than the £15.2 billion pencilled in by economists.

It comes after an unexpected increase in November, when borrowing rose to £17.5 billion, up £1.2 billion from last year, after tax receipts were dented by lower energy company profits.