Public debt still highest since WWII but economy stabilising - PwC

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) public borrowing figures show a budget deficit for April-December 2009 of £120bn, compared to £64bn in the same period a year earlier. Yet the latest monthly borrowing figure of £15.7bn for December was lower than expected. Taken with the effect of the VAT rise and the improving trend in the economy and in City incomes, these figures suggests a total budget deficit for 2009/10 in line with the Treasury's £178bn forecast, according to PwC's John Hawksworth. "Today's figures confirm other indications the economy is starting to recover and that...