Public finance bulletin: January 2008

<p><p><p><h4>Headline Comparisons</h4><ul><li><em class="bold"> Central government current receipts </em> in December were 3.9% higher than in the same month last year. The Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2007-08 published in October implies an increase over last year's levels of 5.9% for the year as a whole and of 6.6% for the period from September 2007 to March 2008. The latest figures show an increase over last year's levels of 4.9% for the year to date, and a 4.8% increase between September and December 2007 over the same four months last year. <li><em class="bold"> Central government current spending </em> in December was 3.1% higher than in the same month last year. The Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2007-08 published in October implies an increase over last year's levels of 6.5% for the year as a whole and of 6.3% for the period from September 2007 to March 2008. The latest figures show an increase over last year's levels of 6.1% for the year to date, and a 5.3% increase between September and December 2007 over the same four months last year. <li><em class="bold"> Public sector net investment </em> in December was £2.7bn compared to £2.4bn in the same month in 2006. So far in 2007-08, a total amount of £15.6bn has been spent on public sector net investment, which is 12.3% higher than had been spent by the same point in 2006-07. The Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2007-08 published in October predicted that net investment in 2007-08 as a whole would be £29.7bn, which is 15.5% above last year's level and implies an increase of 27.2% for the period from September 2007 to March 2008. </p></p></p>