Britain unexpectedly posted its first budget surplus for any July since 2002, boosted by strong income tax payments, according to official today.
The surplus in July stood at 184 million pounds, compared with last year’s 308 million pound deficit, the Office for National Statistics said.
The figures were boosted by a 10.6 percent year-on-year rise in self-assessed income tax receipts in July, a month that often sees a spike in these returns.
The figures also showed the cost of higher inflation on the public finances. Debt interest payments totaling 4.9 billion pounds in July, up 18 percent on a year ago.
Britain has been struggling to fix its public finances since the budget deficit surged to around 10 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 after the global financial crisis.
Since then it has been cut steadily to 2.3 percent of GDP in the 2016/17 financial year which ended in March, its smallest since before the global financial crisis.
The mood among German investors worsened for the third consecutive month in August, a survey showed on Tuesday, suggesting that markets expect Europe’s biggest economy to lose some momentum in the coming months.
The Mannheim-based ZEW research institute said its monthly survey showed its economic sentiment index fell to 10.0 from 17.5 in July. This undershot a Reuters consensus forecast for a fall to 15.0.
On the back of the data we expected to see the pound gain against the Euro, however no impact on the market at all. Pound remains weak.