Office for National Statistics
Printable version

Public Sector Finances, August 2014

Key Points

  • This release provides the first estimate of August 2014 public sector finances and is the first bulletin published using the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) and the new ‘excluding public sector banks’ measures.
  • Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks (PSNB ex) was £11.6 billion in August 2014, an increase of £0.7 billion compared with August 2013.
  • The cumulative year-to-date borrowing figures provide a better indication of the progress of the public finances than the individual months. Public sector net borrowing (PSNB ex) from April to August 2014 was £45.4 billion, an increase of £2.6 billion compared with the same period in 2013/14.
  • The central government net cash requirement (CGNCR) from April to August 2014 was £33.4 billion, an increase of £5.6 billion compared with the same period in 2013/14.
  • Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks (PSND ex) was £1,432.3 billion in August 2014, an increase of £96.7 billion compared with August 2013.
  • Maastricht debt (General Government Gross Debt) at the end of August 2014 is £1,571.3 billion and Maastricht deficit (General Government Net Borrowing) in 2013/14 is £102.3 billion.
  • This publication is in advance of the Quarterly National Accounts (QNA) publication on 30 September 2014. This means only a limited span of ESA 2010 consistent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is available to calculate debt and other key aggregates as a percentage of GDP. This publication includes GDP ratios for the period 1997/98 to 2011/12 data. A further update to include 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 will be published on the 30 September when QNA are published. The 30 September publication will also include revisions to a number of pre 1997 time series to align with the supplementary publication, which are now fully consistent with ESA 2010 measures.
  • The methodological and data changes implemented this month, largely as a result of the move to ESA 2010 and implementation of the new excluding public sector banks measures, have led to PSNB ex in 2013/14 being revised up by £5.6 billion (although it is £6.6 billion lower than the previous PSNB ex measure which excluded Royal Mail Pension Plan and Asset Purchase Facility transfers). PSND ex at the end of March 2014 has been revised up by £128.8 billion.
Get all the tables for this publication in the data section of this publication
Channel website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/

Share this article

Latest News from
Office for National Statistics

Facing the Future...find out more