Borrowing hits £100 billion

Cost of coronavirus (so far)

The government borrowed £103.7 billion over April and May to prop up the economy under lockdown. t's spending a lot on support measures such as the furlough scheme, and at the same time it’s also getting around 30% less than usual in tax income. The result? Big borrowing.

Adviser comment: At some point the government will need to repay this money, so they’ll probably need to raise taxes. There are many different ways to do this, and we don’t yet know who or what will bear the brunt.

Fresh £100 billion from the Bank

The Bank of England will pump an extra £100 billion into the UK economy to help us recover from the current downturn. How? The Bank will print money and use it to buy government bonds, which helps to make loans cheaper and encourages investors to buy shares. The Bank also confirmed the base interest rate will stay at 0.1%.

Retail on the rebound

Shops saw their sales climb by 12% in May - that’s almost twice as much as many experts predicted. The rise was mainly fuelled by a shopping spree for household goods, as hardware stores were some of the first to reopen. All shops are now allowed to reopen, so the figures for June should be even higher.

Theatre under threat

100 stars of the stage have signed a letter to the government warning that their industry is on the verge of destruction. 70% of UK theatres will run out of money by the end of the year. It follows a report earlier this week that over 400,000 jobs are at risk in the creative sector.