Surplus boost for borrowing

Hopes the Government will hit this year's borrowing forecasts were boosted Tuesday after figures revealed it enjoyed its highest surplus for four years in January. The Office for National Statistics said the Government recorded a net surplus of 7.8 billion pounds excluding interventions such as bank bailouts, up 2.5 billion pounds on the previous year and its biggest figure since January 2008. January is traditionally a bumper month for tax returns, which was helped by its bank levy, while expenditure was brought down by the Government's ongoing austerity measures, analysts said. In a further boost to Chancellor George Osborne, net borrowing in the previous nine months of the year was revised down by 2.1 billion pounds to 93. 5 billion pounds after local Government spending was lower than previously thought. The better than expected figures will boost hopes the Government will beat targets set by the Office for Budget Responsibility to reduce its borrowing to 127 billion pounds this financial year. January's surplus helped push the Government's underlying net debt back below the one trillion pounds mark, to 988.7 billion pounds.