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UK retail sales rose at a faster pace than expected in August, numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday, while public sector borrowing for last month hit a five-year high. The ONS said retail sales volumes perked up 0.5% in August from July. They had risen 0.5% in July from June, a growth rate downwardly revised from 0.6%. The latest figures were expected to show a 0.4% monthly rise for August, according to FXStreet, so the data beat expectations. On-year, retail sales rose 0.7% in August, beating the FXStreet cited forecast of a 0.6% rise. Separate data showed UK government net borrowing rose to £17.96 billion, from £2.82 billion in July. It was up on-year from £14.24 billion and is the loftiest August borrowing figure for five years. The latest figure was ahead of FXStreet’s cited consensus, which expected a net borrowing figure of £12.5 billion. ‘Borrowing in the financial year to August 2025 was £83.8 billion; this was £16.2 billion more than in the same five-month period of 2024 and the second-highest April to August borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, after that of 2020,’ the ONS added. ‘The current budget borrowing to fund day-to-day public sector activities was £13.6 billion in August 2025; this brings the total current budget deficit in the financial year to August 2025 to £62.0 billion, which is £13.8 billion more than in the same five-month period of 2024.’ The ONS added: ‘Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks was provisionally estimated at 96.4% of gross domestic product at the end of August 2025; this was 0.5 percentage points more than at the end of August 2024 and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s.’ Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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