UK lowers borrowing estimates by 3 billion pounds after tax data error
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 8, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 8, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
The UK has lowered its government borrowing estimates by £3 billion due to a tax data error, affecting fiscal years 2025 and current. This adjustment was identified by the Office for National Statistics.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's statistics office said on Wednesday that government borrowing in the previous and current fiscal years was a combined 3 billion pounds ($4.02 billion) lower than previously reported after a value added tax receipt data error was found.
"Correcting for the error reduces public sector net borrowing by between 200 million pounds and 500 million pounds per month within the period affected, resulting in a reduction in borrowing of 1 billion pounds for the financial year ending March 2025 and a reduction of 2 billion pounds for the financial year to date," the Office for National Statistics said.
($1 = 0.7468 pounds)
(Reporting by Alistair SmoutWriting by William Schomberg; editing by Sarah Young)
Value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax levied on the value added to goods and services at each stage of production or distribution, ultimately borne by the end consumer.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics, providing data on the economy, population, and society at national and local levels.
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