Pound slides after UK government borrowing jumps in August and insolvencies rise – as it happened

The skyline of the City of London in London Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

4.57pm BST

Closing post

Time to wrap up….

UK government borrowing rose to a five-year high in August, official figures show, fuelling growing expectations for Rachel Reeves to raise taxes at the autumn budget and knocking the pound.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – rose to £18bn in August, £3.5bn more than in the same month a year earlier.

Dealing a blow for the chancellor as she prepares for the 26 November budget, the reading was above City predictions for a deficit of £12.75bn and forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) of £12.5bn.

On top of upward revisions to previous months, total borrowing for the financial year to date jumped to £83.8bn, also the highest level since the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020. The total was £16bn higher than in 2024 and above a £72.4bn forecast from the OBR.

Sterling has slid through the day, and is now down over three-quarters of a cent against the US dollar at $1.3475.

Economists have predicted that fresh tax rises will be announced in the autumn budget.

In other news:

• Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have held a phone call, which the US president says was very productive.

• The number of personal insolvencies in England and Wales has jumped

• US technology giant Nvidia has pledged to invest £2bn investment in UK tech companies.

• Retail sales across Great Britain rose last month….

• …despite a drop in consumer confidence

4.51pm BST

Trump: Xi call was 'very productive'

Donald Trump has declared that his call with Xi Jinping was “very productive”, and revealed that the two leaders have agreed to visit each other’s countries.

Posting on Truth Social, Trump says:

I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal. I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time. The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!

We’ve not yet, though, heard confirmation from Beijing that the TikTok deal has been finalised…