visitors look out to st pauls cathedral from a rooftop in the city of london uk on thursday march 2 2023 london the uk public sector net debt in may exceeded 100 of the nations gdp for the first time since 1961 the office for national statistics said wednesday public sector net debt excluding that of statecontrolled banks came in at £2567 trillion 328 trillion which amounted to 1001 of gdp government borrowing in may totaled £20045 billion the ons revealed exceeding consensus expectations of £195 billion from a reuters poll of economists this marked a £3 billion decline from the april figure but was still more than double that of may 2022 and represented the secondhighest may borrowing figure since records began noted pwc economist divya sridhar uk annual inflation remained unchanged in may from the previous month the ons announced wednesday defying economic expectations of a slight decline and piling further pressure on the government and consumers this will likely drive up spending through increased debt interest payments and inflationlinked benefits and tax credits sridhar noted