UK to issue revised estimates of public sector net debt to reflect forex moves: ONS

[LONDON] Britain's statistics office said on Thursday it would revise recent estimates of the country's public sector net debt (PSND) after looking closely at how exchange rates have affected the measurement of Britain's debt pile.

The Office for National Statistics said it expected to revise up PSND, and PSND excluding publicly-owned banks, by 2.735 billion pounds (S$4.84 billion) for March 2016, 2.236 billion pounds for April, and 1.502 billion pounds for May.

Because of the pound's movements in June, when it fell to a 31-year low against the dollar following the Brexit vote, the change in methodology will likely result in a downward movement of around 3 to 4 billion pounds in PSND, the ONS said.

The size of revisions are small in comparison to the overall size of Britain's public sector debt. Excluding banks, the latest data show this stood at 1.607 trillion pounds.

REUTERS