Britain's budget deficit reached a record high in March as well

Britain recorded its largest budget deficit in history for the financial year 2020/21, which ended on 31 March. The March deficit also reached the largest value in the history of monthly statistics. The reason is the pandemic of the new coronavirus and related measures. The ONS statistical office informed about it on Friday. Net lending to the public sector, with the exception of public sector banks, climbed to £ 303.1 billion (€ 348.97 billion) in the 12 months to the end of March 2021, representing 14.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), out of 246 , GBP 1 billion in fiscal year 2019/20, the ONS said. They thus reached the highest level since the beginning of these records in March 1947. However, the Office of Budgetary Responsibility expected net lending to climb to GBP 327.4 billion over the past year. London may thus reduce the planned sale of government bonds. In March 2021 alone, public sector net lending increased by GBP 21 billion year on year to GBP 28 billion, reaching its highest level since the beginning of monthly records in 1993. At the end of March, the net debt of the British public sector for the full financial year to the end of March was GBP 2.142 trillion, which is about 97.7 percent of GDP. The ONS said that extraordinary funding to support the economy and the people during the pandemic, combined with declining incomes and the economic downturn, increased public sector net debt relative to GDP to the level last seen in the early 1960s. Following the release of this figure, the Debt Management Office has announced that it intends to issue a debt of GBP 252.6 billion in the current financial year 2021/22, which is GBP 43.4 billion less than expected a month ago. Even the reduction of the planned new debt will not obscure the huge role that awaits Finance Minister Rishi Sunak in the recovery of British public finances after the pandemic. In his draft budget on March 3, Sunak announced an increase in corporate taxes, the largest since the early 1990s, to help pay the bill to support businesses and employees during the corona crisis. However, economists say more needs to be done to balance public finances as pressure to increase wages and public services increases following the biggest economic downturn in three centuries.