UK Borrowing Exceeds Forecasts

Official data revealed on Wednesday that the British government borrowed 36.101 billion pounds last month, which exceeds 33.55 billion pounds of forecasts by a Reuters poll, bringing borrowing in the first half of the financial year to a record level of 208.5 billion pounds.

Separately, the Office for National Statistics said annual consumer price inflation in September rose to 0.5%, compared with 0.2% in August when it was lowered by a temporary plan to subsidize dining at restaurants.

The rate of increase in inflation was 0.5%, according to the median forecast of economists polled by Reuters.