LONDON, March 21 Reuters Britain posted a larger budget deficit than expected in February, swelled by costofliving payments and the effect of past inflation on the public finances, official data showed on Thursday.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding stateowned banks, was 8.401 billion pounds last month, down from 11.843 billion pounds 15.16 billion a year ago.

Still, the reading was higher than any economist expected in a Reuters poll that had pointed to a deficit of around 5.95 billion pounds.

With only one month of the 202324 financial year left, the cumulative budget deficit for the year so far stood at 106.8 billion pounds down 4.1 compared with first 11 months of the 202223 financial year.

Earlier this month, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast a budget deficit for 202324 of 114.1 billion pounds.

1 0.7846 pounds

Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by William Schomberg and Elizabeth Piper

Source Reuters