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Fiscal Policy · Government Debt · ONS · UK Public Borrowing
UK public sector net borrowing increased to GBP14.33 billion in February, marking the second-highest February figure on record since 1993, according to the Office for National Statistics, driven by central government debt interest payments.
This figure widened from GBP12.13 billion a year prior and swung from a GBP31.86 billion surplus in January 2026. The only higher February borrowing was GBP15.48 billion in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the fiscal year-to-date, borrowing totaled GBP125.9 billion, an 8.7% decrease from the previous year, yet it remains the fourth-highest April to February borrowing on record. The ONS provisionally estimated fiscal year borrowing to February 2026 at 4.1% of Gross Domestic Product, a 0.6 percentage point reduction from the same period last year.
Public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, reached 93.1% of GDP by the end of February 2026, a level not observed since the early 1960s, as reported by Michael Hennessey of Alliance News.
Sterling could rise against the euro if Bank of England official Megan Greene supports the case for an interest-rate rise in April, ING said.
