Public sector net borrowing in February stood at £16.7bn in February – a record number for the month.
It was £9.7bn more than the same month last year and the highest February borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.
This was largely because of the Government’s substantial spending on its Energy Price Guarantee, keeping average annual household bills at £2,500 over the winter.
5 things to start your day
1) Row breaks out between Brussels and the Swiss over Credit Suisse rescue deal | ECB and Bank of England rebuke Swiss regulator for forcing bond holders to bear losses
2) Financial turmoil will force Bank of England to abandon rate rise, City predicts | Barclays scraps rate rise prediction as turmoil in the financial markets continues
3) How debt markets could still derail the rescue of Credit Suisse | Spike in UBS’ credit default swaps suggests the bank has bitten off more than it can chew
4) Ulez should be in every British city, says Uber’s UK chief | Andrew Brem praises Sadiq Khan’s controversial scheme as Uber plans electric shift
5) Startups urged to pull cash from small US banks to protect themselves | Advice from VC firms follows the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
What happened overnight
Asian stocks were lifted from lows on Tuesday, with the rescue of Credit Suisse stemming selling in bank shares, though the mood was fragile and the stress in markets had traders wondering whether U. rate hikes might be finished.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.5pc in early trade, Australian shares bounced 1.3pc from Monday’s four-month trough and the Hang Seng opened 0.7pc higher..
Overnight an early selloff in Europe was reversed and on Wall Street the S&P 500 rose 0.9pc. US futures rose 0.2pc in early Asia trade.
Wall Street’s main equity indexes rebounded on Monday as investors piled into banking stocks after UBS’s state-backed rescue of embattled rival Credit Suisse for now allayed contagion concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 32,244.58, up 1.pc. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.89% to close at 3,951.57, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.39pc to 11,675.54.
US Treasury yields rose ahead of the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated decision on interest rates on Wednesday.
The policy sensitive two-year yield moved upwards to 3.97pc, while the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.49pc.
The FTSE 100 bounced back from early trading lows to close 0.93pc higher at 7,403.85. Mining stocks lifted the blue-chip index as investors fled to safe-haven metals, offsetting shares in British lenders which weighed down the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250.
The more domestically-focused FTSE 250 midcap index nudged up 0.13pc by close.
