LONDON, May 22 (KUNA) -- The UK's public debt, including the Bank of England's debt, rose to more than 2.954 trillion sterling (USD 3.97 trillion) at the end of last month, said official statistics on Thursday.
UK's public debt reached 95.5 percent of the country's annual gross domestic product, representing an increase of 0.7 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The debt value increased during the last fiscal year by about 148.3 billion sterling (USD 199 billion), adding that the debt-to-GDP ratio remains at the highest level recorded since 1961, it added.
In addition, the government's budget deficit in the fiscal year March 2024- March 2025 rose to 70.3 billion sterling (USD 94.4 billion), an increase of 9.6 billion sterling (USD 12.8 billion) over what the Office for Budget Responsibility had expected.
The report also showed that the value of tax collections increased during the last fiscal year by approximately 41.1 billion sterling (USD 55.1 billion), bringing the total taxes to 790.3 billion sterling (USD 1.06 trillion).
The largest increase in tax collection came from income tax, with an annual increase of 26.3 billion sterling (USD 35.3 billion), 5.4 billion sterling (USD 7.25 billion) from value-added tax, and 3.2 billion sterling (USD 4.29 billion) from corporate tax, report added. (end) mrn.hs