Between April and September 2013, the Government’s cash receipts were £265.3bn, an increase from the £237bn recorded a year earlier.
The coalition Government has stated that it wishes to reduce the deficit to less than £120bn in the 2013/14 tax year, excluding any cash transfers from the Bank of England, as a result of its quantitative easing programme, or the Royal Mail flotation and its attendant pension funds.
Having said this, they appear to be on track, as the first six months of this tax year saw them report a deficit of £56.7bn, which is a reduction of 9% from the same period last year.
The medium-term aspiration of the Government is to eliminate the budget deficit entirely by 2020. Speaking at a recent Thomson Reuters symposium, George Osborne was quoted as saying, that whilst the country’s economic problems were not yet over: “An improving economic situation in the UK does not automatically lead to a windfall for the public finances… we are going to go on as a Government having to take very difficult decisions to control public spending and make sure we are on top of the deficit.”
The continuing recent tranche of positive economic data, across retail sales, housing, unemployment and trade, has reinforced the opinion that the Government is on track to meet its aspirations for reduced borrowing this current tax year; however, the jury is still out.
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