Government borrowing hit £303.1 billion in the year ending March, or 14.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level since the end of the Second World War, the Office for National Statistics said.
The huge sums that the Government has borrowed during the Covid-19 crisis have pushed the deficit to its highest point since the end of the Second World War, according to new figures.
The Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing – the Government’s deficit – reached £303.1 billion in the financial year to the end of March.
This was 14.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level since 1946, when the deficit hit 15.2% of GDP.
It is a rise from a deficit of £57 billion in the tax year ending March 2020.
It pushed public sector net debt up to £2,141.7 billion, which is 97.7% of GDP – the biggest proportion since the early 1960s.
