UK August borrowing hits 18.3bn, above forecast

UK government borrowing reached £18.3 billion in August, £3.5 billion above the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast and well ahead of City expectations of about £15.6 billion, according to Office for National Statistics figures published on September 22, 2026. The total was £2.9 billion, or 19%, higher than in August 2025, making it the second-highest August borrowing figure on record behind 2020. The ONS said the increase was driven by public spending on services, benefits and other costs growing faster than tax receipts, partly reflecting the impact of inflation. Debt interest payments reached £8.8 billion in August, the highest August total since monthly records began in 1997. Of that sum, £2.1 billion was attributable to index-linked gilts, whose repayments are tied to the Retail Prices Index. Across the first five months of the financial year, borrowing totalled £77.3 billion. That figure was £8.1 billion above OBR projections but £2.2 billion below the same period a year earlier, and the tenth lowest for an April-to-August stretch since comparable monthly records began in 1993.