London: The UK government debt has increased above 2 trillion pounds ($2.6 trillion) for the first time amid heavy spending to support the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Friday.
Spending on measures such as the furlough scheme means the debt figure now equals the value of everything the UK government produces in a year, the BBC reported.
Total debt hit 2.004 trillion pounds in July, 227.6 billion pounds more than last year, said the ONS.
It is the first time debt has been above 100 percent of the GDP since the 1960-61 financial year.
The July borrowing figure – the difference between spending and tax income – was 26.7 billion pounds, down from a revised 29.5 billion pounds in June.
It was the fourth-highest borrowing in any month since records began in 1993.
The three higher figures were the previous three months.
The ONS cautioned that borrowing estimates were subject to “greater than usual uncertainty”.
On June 21 Britain recorded 1,182 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, which is the second-highest daily total toll cases 21 June 2020, The UK govt figures showed, in part reflecting the higher number of COVID tests being started.
20 August data showed 190,434 corona tests were processed, compared to 117,971 on 21 June.
