Government borrowing overshoots expectations in April
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 22 May 2026
(Sharecast News) - The UK government borrowed more than expected in April, according to data released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics.
Borrowing came in at £24.3bn last month, up £4.9bn on the same month a year earlier. It was also £3.4bn more than the £20.9bn forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: "Borrowing this month was substantially higher than in April last year and although receipts increased compared to with April 2025, this was more than offset by higher spending on benefits and other costs."
Government spending on benefits rose by £2.7bn to £29.5bn. The ONS said this was due mainly to inflation-linked increases in many benefits and earnings-linked increases to State Pension payments.
The figures also showed that government debt interest payable increased by £0.9bn to £10.3bn.
Nabil Taleb, economist at PwC UK, said the higher figure largely reflects the 0.4% increase in the retail price index (RPI) from the start of the year. "Higher debt servicing costs as a share of total revenues leave the public finances more exposed to future economic shocks," he said.
"The public finances remain finely balanced. Growth has been revised up but from a low base, and the latest fall in inflation may prove temporary as higher energy costs begin to feed through. At the same time, gilt yields, the effective cost of financing government debt, have moved sharply higher as markets weigh the conflict in the Middle East alongside domestic political uncertainty.
"The Chancellor may have held the fiscal line so far, but with limited headroom and markets increasingly sensitive to uncertainty, maintaining credibility is becoming as important as the borrowing figures themselves."
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