British debt hits record $1.56 trillion

Public debt in Britain has reached a record $1.56 trillion with government borrowing at $21.8 billion in December, the government's statistical office said. The figure is not just a record, it is a symbolic one as debt has surpassed 1 trillion pounds for the first time, the Office of National Statistics said. December's borrowing came in under expectations, which puts the government ahead on its goal to reduce borrowing by $15.6 billion this year to under $200 billion, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday. Regardless, senior economist at Capital Economics Vicky Redwood said that the 1 trillion pounds of debt is "a reminder of the enormity of the challenge that still lies ahead to get the public finances back on a sustainable footing. "We expect weaker growth than the Office of Budget Responsibility is forecasting to make its future borrowing forecasts much harder to meet. Indeed, so far, it has been weaker spending growth helping borrowing to fall, whereas tax receipts are falling short of the fiscal forecasts," she said. A survey of economists predicts that Britain's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of its economy, contracted 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. On Monday, the International Labor Organization warned that "unabated" job losses could push Britain back into a recession.