Net debt, excluding public banks, rose to £2.004 trillion (US$2.66 trillion), up by nearly £230 billion from July 2019 and equivalent to 100.5% of Britain’s economic output, its highest since 1961.

Borrowing in the April-July period, the first four months of the financial year, surged to £150.5 billion, almost three times borrowing by the government during the previous financial year as a whole, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

In July alone, borrowing excluding public sector banks was £26.7 billion, slightly less than the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. But in July last year, the budget was in surplus by about £1.6 billion, boosted by receipts of income tax which typically fall in the month.

“Today’s figures are a stark reminder that we must return our public finances to a sustainable footing over time, which will require taking difficult decisions,” finance minister Rishi Sunak said.

Debt as a share of gross domestic product was also pushed up by the sharp contraction in the size of Britain’s economy during the coronavirus lockdown, the ONS said.