The Public Sector of the UK Continues to Borrow Unprecedented Amounts of Money

This week, the Office of National Statistics came out with information showing that the UK’s public sector continued his rampant borrowing. The public sector set another record as they borrowed 15.7 billion pounds in December alone. This is a staggering number considering that the UK is trying to work its way out of debt, but it is the type of move that the government feels is necessary in order to work out of the recession.

The good news, if there is any, is that the figure is less than the number that certain analysts predicted but is definitely not going to do much good in terms of bankruptcy in the countries or the crunch the UK is feeling from debt and their debt management programmes. The highest December in terms of borrowing on record could be a sign of things to come in 2010, and if it is then the UK could face problems in terms of their AAA credit rating.

The overall debt for the UK is now sitting at right around 870 billion pounds, which is the highest it has been since all the way back in 1974. For UK citizens trying to work their way out of debt and avoid bankruptcy, this news is less then impressive. With the UK debt at a level of about 62% of its overall GDP it once again looks like things may just get worse before they get better.

In May of 2009 a number of credible credit agencies, including Standard & Poor’s, said there was fear that the UK’s burden of debt could reach 100% in the next year or so. These are the kind of numbers that have citizens concerned about bankruptcy and looking for some reliable debt management plans. The figures also reflect the fact that Britain is definitely going through one of the worst recessions on record, and that is why there has been a steady increase in unemployment and why tax revenues have taken a beating.

But it isn’t all bad news as the unemployment rate has fallen to 7.8% while the number of Britons looking for jobseeker’s allowance decreased by approximately 15,000.

Agencies have noted that the UK economy is the last major economy still in a recession thanks to 6 straight contracted quarters. Many people are anxiously waiting official figures that are expected to come out at the end of January that will let everyone know for sure if the economy saw positive growth during the fourth quarter. If there was positive growth then it will bring a lot of excitement to the UK that hasn’t been seen in quite some time.

While it will just be a small blip in the overall picture, any positive growth will definitely improve the economic outlook for the UK. There are still a number of steps to be taken by policy makers and the government, and a lot of work to be done to crawl out from under the recession. However, the positive growth would be great news for UK citizens worried about debt management and bankruptcy.