海角大神

Traditionally, the British government has a large surplus in its finances in January as January is the time when corporations make a large part of their tax payments. the surplus was only 拢1.2 billion, down from 拢10.2 billion, reflecting both a big drop (7.6%) in revenues and a big increase (9.8%) in spending. , the drop in government revenues were even greater while the increase in spending was smaller.

And it is even worse if you use the normal accounting principles for government finances. The U.K. government has the unusual principle of not counting spending it calls investments as spending, despite the fact that these "investments" do not generate any visible return for the government. If you had also included borrowing for "net investments" (which most government accounts do), then the surplus of 拢5.3 billion in January 2009 swung to a deficit of 拢4.3 billion.

For the first 10 months of the fiscal year, the official deficit rose from 拢36 billion to 拢90.7 billion, while the deficit using normal accounting methods rose from 拢58.4 billion to 拢122.4 billion.

While government revenue is partly a lagging indicator, the fact that it keeps falling is clearly a sign that the recovery is very weak at best, something that is confirmed by other indicators as well (see and ).

.

---------------------------------

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Their postings appear here on the Monitor's Money site as well as on their own individual blog sites. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the blogger's own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link above.