UK Budget Deficit at 10-Year Low

Britain’s budget deficit fell last month to its lowest for any September in the past 10 years, a boost for under-pressure Chancellor Philip Hammond ahead of next month’s annual budget, Reuters reported. Last month’s deficit stood at £5.902 billion ($7.78 billion), down almost 11% compared with the same month last year, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday, citing figures that exclude state-controlled banks. The shortfall was much smaller than the median forecast of £6.5 billion in a Reuters poll of economists. September’s figures marked the third straight month in which the public finances performed better than analysts had expected, even as the prospect of Britain’s departure from the European Union has weighed on the overall economy. The figures will likely cheer Hammond, who has been told his job is at risk by supporters of Britain’s departure from the European Union, who think he is too negative and is starving other ministers of funds needed to prepare for Brexit.