government debt

The ONS figures showed that interest payments on government debt hit £9.1bn last month, the highest October figure since monthly records began in 1997.

A property slump, rising government debt and unemployment, and low consumption have slowed down Chinese growth since the pandemic.

Another move unveiled ahead of the Budget was to change the way government debt is measured, to free up billions of pounds of extra investment in infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and hospitals.

The IMF’s deputy chief said another of the Fund’s main messages at its Annual Meetings was to warn on ballooning levels of global government debt.

At the moment, the amount of money the government can borrow for investment is determined by government debt.