Markets had expected a surplus, not a deficit
The UK public sector recorded a small but unexpected deficit in July.
Public sector net borrowing, excluding the cost of financial interventions, totalled £62m, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In the past two years, tax receipts pushed the public purse into a July surplus, and markets had expected a £2.5bn surplus this time round.
The data remains subject to revision. The £823m surplus recorded in July 2012 was originally reported as a deficit.
The ONS said that public sector net debt - the total outstanding amount owed by the state - reached £1.193 trillion in the month, excluding borrowing to finance financial interventions, such as bank rescues.
That was equivalent to 74.5% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) - the UK economy's annual economic output.
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23777500#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
