Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of additional short-term borrowing in the 2022-23 financial year.

The Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or the public finances; the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK’s official forecaster. In their March 2022 forecast, the OBR projected that Public Sector Net Borrowing (PSNB) for 2022-23 would be £99.1 billion or 3.9% of GDP. Latest outturn data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows by the end of September, PSNB had reached £72.5bn.

In terms of the costs of debt interest: rising inflation is pushing up our debt interest costs - in March the OBR forecast that government spending on debt interest would reach £83.0 billion in 2022-23. In September 2022, the interest payable on central government debt was £7.7 billion, 2.5bn higher than September 2021.

The OBR will publish an updated fiscal forecast on 17 November, alongside the Autumn Statement, which will reflect the impact of any short-term additional borrowing on the economy and public finances.