Public finance bulletin: December 2007

Headline Comparisons

• Central government current receipts in November were 7.2% higher than in the same month last year. Last month's Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2007-08 implies an increase over last year's levels of 6.0% for the year as a whole and of 6.7% for the period from September 2007 to March 2008. The latest figures show an increase over last year's levels of 5.1% for the year to date, and a 5.4% increase between September and November 2007 over the same three months last year.
• Central government current spending in November was 7.2% higher than in the same month last year. Last month's Pre-Budget Report forecast for 2007-08 implies an increase over last year's levels of 6.5% for the year as a whole and of 6.4% for the period from September 2007 to March 2008. The latest figures show an increase over last year's levels of 6.7% for the year to date, and a 6.9% increase between September and November 2007 over the same three months last year.
• Public sector net investment in November was £2.1bn compared to £1.8bn in the same month in 2006. So far in 2007-08, a total amount of £13.1bn has been spent on public sector net investment, which is 14.1% higher than had been spent by the same point in 2006-07. Last month's Pre-Budget Report 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 28.4% for the period from September 2007 to March 2008.