This article continues the series of notes begun in the March 1986 Bulletin and last updated in the November 1989 Bulletin. From the November 1988 Bulletin it has been combined with the long-standing series of articles on the national debt and its distribution. It has been compiled with the help of the Central Statistical Office.
The main points are:
- The net debt of the public sector and market holdings of the national debt (see appendix for explanation of terms) both fell by around £7 billion in 1989/90. The consolidated debt of the public sector fell by £10 billion.
- On all these measures, there was a sharp decline in relation to GDP (31/2 percentage points in the case of the net debt).
- The proportion of national debt in market hands which was in index-linked form continued to rise.
The net debt of the public sector: end-March 1990