By Mark McSherry

The debt of the UK government was £2.427 trillion at the end of August 2022, an increase of £195.2 billion compared with August 2021.

That’s according to the latest figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week.

The ONS said that public sector net debt excluding public sector banks (PSND ex) at the end of August was around 96.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) — an increase of 1.9 percentage points of GDP compared with August 2021.

UK central government debt interest payable was £8.2 billion in August 2022, £1.5 billion more than in August 2021 and the highest August figure since monthly records began in April 1997.

” …the volatility in interest payable is largely because of the effect of Retail Prices Index (RPI) changes on index-linked gilts,” said the ONS.

Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks (PSNB ex) was £11.8 billion in August 2022 — £2.6 billion less than in August 2021 but £6.5 billion more than in pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) August 2019, when it was £5.3 billion.