Headline Comparisons

• Central government current receipts in December were 0.4% lower than in the same month last year. Last month's Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2009-10 implies a fall relative to last year's levels of 7.3% for the year as a whole and of 3.7% for the period from November 2009 to March 2010. The latest figures show a fall relative to last year's levels of 8.1% for the year to date, with a 1.0% fall in November and December 2009 compared to the same two months in 2008.

• Central government current spending in December was 7.5% higher than in the same month last year. Last month's Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2009-10 implies an increase relative to last year's levels of 7.4% for the year as a whole and of 9.7% for the period from November 2009 to March 2010. The latest figures show an increase relative to last year's levels of 5.8% for the year to date, with a 6.1% increase in November and December 2009 compared to the same two months in 2008.

• Public sector net investment in December was £4.2bn compared to £2.7bn in the same month last year. Together, public sector net investment over the first nine months of this financial year has been £26.5bn, which is 53% higher than in the same months of 2008-09. Last month's Pre-Budget Report suggested that net investment in 2009-10 would be about 30% above last year's level for the year as a whole.

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