By - Abhishek Sharma
- UK's public borrowing jumped to £22 billion in November.
- The borrowing, which is the difference between spending and tax income, was £13.9 billion higher than in the same month last year.
Amid the rising inflation and the government's steps to keep it under control and offer support to households and businesses, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that UK's public borrowing jumped to £22 billion in November.
This is the highest-ever level recorded in November since the monthly records began as soaring debt interest payments push the deficit higher.
The borrowing, which is the difference between spending and tax income, stood £13.9 billion higher than in the same month last year. This indicated that the public sector spent more money than it earned.
Image source: ShutterstockProfessional, Shutterstock
ONS numbers also showed that the total public sector spending for November hit £98.9 billion. On the other hand, the ONS said that the day-to-day government spending rose by £13.5 billion to £82bn for November.
The rise was also fuelled by government spending on supporting households with the cost of living payments as well as the support for their energy bills. Businesses, too, have been receiving support from the government with the energy bills, which will stay in place till 31 March 2023. The Treasury is yet to make any announcements regarding its plans to support the businesses after it.
As the government borrowing hits the highest-ever levels for November, Kalkine Media® explores some blue-chip stocks that investors can explore.
Shell plc (LON: SHEL)
Shell is an oil and gas giant and one of the world's largest energy producers. It holds a market cap of £165,092.14 million and an EPS of 2.59 as of 22 December 2022. The stock has provided a return of more than 46% on both a 12-month and year-to-date basis at the time of writing. SHEL shares traded at GBX 2,377.00, up 0.96% as of 8:22 am GMT on Thursday.