The UK’s debt pile is on course to exceed 100 per cent of GDP, the International Monetary Fund has estimated, underlining the fiscal pressures facing the government a week before the budget.
In its latest estimates of the global debt levels, the fund said the UK was one of a number of countries whose debt piles were growing faster than in pre-pandemic times because of escalating pressures on spending and slowing growth.
Britain’s gross government debt is on course at present to rise steadily from 101 per cent of GDP this year to 108 per cent of GDP by 2029, according to the IMF’s forecasts. Projections for net debt also expand from over 92 per cent in 2024 to 96.4 per cent over the next