For the first four months of the 2015/16 tax year, public sector net borrowing was 24.0 billion pounds, down 23 percent compared with the April-July period of last year. British finance minister George Osborne said last month that he was aiming to bring down the budget deficit in the current financial year to 69.5 billion pounds, or 3.7 percent of economic output. In the 2014/15 financial year, the deficit stood at 4.9 percent of gross domestic product, half its level in 2010 when Osborne's Conservative Party first took power but still bigger than the hole in the finances of most other advanced economies.
Public sector net debt, excluding state-controlled banks, totaled 1.505 trillion pounds in June equivalent to 80.8 percent of GDP. Osborne is aiming to start bringing the ratio down in the 2015/16 financial year after it rose sharply following the financial crisis.
Sterling is currently being traded few points below 1.57 handle. Pair is likely to find support around 1.5650 area and resistance above 1.5750level. Later today, in the US session, Manufacturing PMI figures are scheduled for a release.
