By Paul Hannon 
 

The U.K. government's borrowing touched an 11-year low in September, leaving Britain on track to meet its target for the year.

The Office for National Statistics Friday said the government spent 4.1 billion pounds ($5.36 billion) more than it received in taxes and other revenues during September, down from GBP4.9 billion in the same month last year.

That was the smallest deficit for September since 2007, the year before the U.K. was caught up in the global financial crisis, which led to a surge in borrowing as tax receipts fell and the cost of supporting an increased number of jobless workers soared.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal last week had expected the September deficit to come in at GBP5.2 billion.

For the six months of the fiscal year to date, borrowing totaled GBP19.9 billion, the lowest figure in 16 years and GBP10.7 billion less than in the first half of the previous fiscal year.

The ONS said the public sector net cash requirement was GBP17.2 billion in September, up from GBP13.5 billion in the same month last year.

The government hopes to keep its borrowing to GBP37.1 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2019. It has been trying to narrow the budget deficit since 2010 through a combination of spending cuts and tax rises, but that has proved to be a more difficult, lenghtier process than expected.

U.K. Treasury Chief Philip Hammond is on Oct. 29 due to outline his budget for the fiscal year starting in April 2019.

Write to Paul Hannon at paul.hannon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2018 04:55 ET (08:55 GMT)

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