Britain’s national debt has surpassed 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time since 1961, according to figures from the British statistics office.
Meanwhile, the country continues to struggle with persistently high inflation.
Government debt reached £2.6 trillion at the end of May, equivalent to 100.1 percent of UK GDP. For your information: the Belgian public debt amounted to more than 105 percent of GDP at the end of 2022.
Among other things, the British government had to spend extra money to mitigate the needs of the pandemic and the energy crisis.
Meanwhile, inflation remains very high: 8.7 percent in May. That is the same as in April. Analysts had expected a slowdown to 8.4 percent. Core inflation – excluding volatile elements such as energy and food – even rose to 7.1 percent, or the highest level since 1992.