UK government debt exceeds two trillion pounds for first time

Britain's public debt went above 2 trillion pounds (2.65 trillion U.S. dollars) for the first time in July as the coronavirus pandemic pushed the UK economy deep into recession, official data showed Friday.

Net debt, excluding public banks, rose to 2.004 trillion pounds (2.66 trillion U.S. dollars), up by nearly 230 billion pounds from July 2019 and equivalent to 100.5 percent of Britain's economic output, its highest since 1961.

Borrowing in the April-July period, the first four months of the financial year, surged to 150.5 billion pounds, almost three times borrowing by the government during the previous financial year as a whole, the Office for National Statistics said.

"This crisis has put the public finances under significant strain as we have seen a hit to our economy and taken action to support millions of jobs, businesses and livelihoods," finance minister Rishi Sunak said in a separate statement.

(CGTN)