Government borrowing surged to £22 billion last month due to higher debt interest and cost-of-living payments to households. This represents the largest monthly figure for November borrowing since records began in 1993.
One significant driver was a 50% rise in interest payments to £7.3bn, driven by debt interest payments linked to Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation. Ok, very briefly: the UK was at the vanguard of issuing inflation-indexed bonds in the early 1980s, which tied the cost of some gilts to inflation, specifically RPI. Wait, why RPI? More on that here from the BBC’s Andy Verity but I warn you it’s spectacularly geeky.
