Public finance bulletin: April 2014

Today the Office for National Statistics and HM Treasury published Public Sector Finances March 2014. We now have provisional details of central government receipts, central government spending, public sector net investment, borrowing and debt for the whole of financial year 2013−14.

Headline Comparisons

• Public sector net borrowing, excluding the impact of transfers related to the Asset Purchase Facility, totalled £107.7bn in 2013−14. This is essentially as was forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in their March 2014 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (£107.8bn), and is £7.5bn lower than the £115.1bn borrowed in 2012–13.
• Public sector net investment was £24.9bn in 2013−14, which was £0.8bn higher than was forecast by the OBR in March 2014.
• The public sector current budget deficit in 2013−14 was £82.8bn, excluding the impact of transfers related to the Asset Purchase Facility, which is £0.9bn lower than the £83.7bn forecast by the OBR in March 2014.
• Underlying public sector net debt at the end of March 2014 stood at 75.8% of national income, which is higher than the 74.5% forecast by the OBR in March, and the 74.2% of national income in March 2013. Including the impact of the financial interventions raises headline public sector net debt to 132.4%.