Public Sector Net Borrowing

Public sector net borrowing is a British term referring the fiscal deficit.

Public sector net borrowing is equal to the UK government's expenditures minus its total receipts. If this number is positive, the country is running a fiscal deficit; a negative number represents a fiscal surplus. The figures are not seasonally adjusted or adjusted for inflation.

Britain's Office of National Statistics issues an estimate of the public sector net borrowing each month. This statistic is often used by forex traders to determine the fundamental health of the British economy and currency.

The British government has run a budget deficit in most months in recent years, though post-crisis austerity policies have caused its net debt to fall from a peak above £2.3 trillion (or 146% of GDP) in 2010 to less than £2.1 trillion (102%) in the third quarter of 2017. In the campaign for the June 2017 general election, all major parties advocated decreasing public sector net borrowing.