UK Government borrowed extra $589bn in 2020 to run the world's largest budget deficit during the pandemic

‘Borrowing was the right call’, according to Janus Henderson Sovereign Debt Index

The UK borrowed an additional $589bn in 2020, up 24% year on year to $3trn, meaning it ran the world’s largest budget deficit as part of government efforts to shore up the economy during the pandemic, according to Janus Henderson’s Sovereign Debt Index.

In 2020, the budget deficit was worth a fifth of the UK economy, as the findings from the first edition of the Sovereign Debt Index showed that the largest countries borrowed the most. The US, Japan and China alone accounted for more than half of the world's new government borrowing in 2020, Janus Henderson reported. $500bn in 2021: What the green bond surge means for investors The index showed that the UK's national debt is more than five times larger than in 1995, up 418%, while the economy has only doubled in size (+94%) and with borrowing having soared $8,500 per person in 2020...