The government borrowed less than expected last month, official figures show.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), public sector net borrowing hit £18.5 billion in June.
It is a fall from May’s £20 billion and lower than expected by economists, who had forecast borrowing to hit £22 billion, according to a consensus figure supplied by Pantheon Macroeconomics.
But it was the third-highest June borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.
The ONS attributed the fall in borrowing in June to higher tax receipts and a substantial fall in debt interest payable, though it said these were “largely offset by increased benefit payments and other costs.”…