UK government debt exceeds £2 trillion for first time

A pedestrian wearing a face mask or covering due to the Covid-19 pandemic, walks past shuttered shop fronts on an empty shopping street in London. Credit: AFP Photo

British government debt has exceeded £2.0 trillion for the first time following large state borrowing as the coronavirus pandemic pushed the UK economy deep into recession, official data showed Friday.

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At the end of July, the total accumulated debt hit £2.004 trillion ($2.61 trillion, 2.2 trillion euros), the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.