Are the numbers still falling?
In December government borrowing fell by £0.4 billion to £6.9bn, this is compared with 2015.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collated the figures, the borrowing for the year came to £63.8bn, this is £10.6bn lower than the same time a year ago.
During the Autumn Statement, last year, it indicated that the government would borrow £68bn over the full financial year to the end of April.
The government usually receives more money than it spends in January due to the high number of tax bills being paid.
The borrowing figure for November was looked at again by the ONS, it moved from £12.6bn to £11.3bn. This will help the Chancellor; Philip Hammond keep to his Autumn Statement target.
Even if the target is met the total will still represent 3.5 per cent of economic output.
Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The UK’s fiscal position, which was weakened significantly by the financial crisis, is likely to come under increasing pressure in the near term if UK economic growth weakens as expected.”
“A slowing economy would further restrict the UK’s capacity to collect enough tax revenue to consistently achieve deficit reduction in the coming years.”
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