This article continues the series begun in the March 1986 Bulletin and last updated in the November 1992 Bulletin. Since 1988, 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 and others.
The main points are:
- The net debt of the public sector and market holdings of the national debt both rose sharply in 1992/93, by around £37 billion and £45 billion respectively. These are the largest rises since the series began in 1970.
- In relation to GDP, these measures increased by 5.0 and 6.2 percentage points respectively to 32.9% and 36.0%.
- General government gross debt at nominal value had risen to 41.4% of GDP at end-March 1993; this was still lower than at any time between 1970 and 1988.
The net debt of the public sector: end-March 1993