Borrowing Warning: Government borrowed worst by October, figure in six years

The government has borrowed £54.3bn so far this year and is making slow progress on reaching its annual target.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast borrowing of £69.5bn against £90.1bn a year ago.

The Treasury said the figures showed the job of rebalancing the economy was "not yet done".

It added that "government borrowing remains too high".

It means the Chancellor George Osborne will need to restrict borrowing to just £15bn between now and April in order to meet his target.

While not impossible - January usually sees a surplus thanks to an influx of self-assessment income tax receipts - it remains unlikely that the chancellor will meet his borrowing target without severe cuts at next week's Autumn Statement.

The latest borrowing figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), will raise expectations that the OBR will be forced to raise its forecast for government borrowing this year.

Borrowing warnings

Economists are warning that the Treasury looks set to miss its borrowing target this year.

Howard Archer chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight said: "George Osborne now has an almighty task to meet his fiscal targets for 2015/16.

"Indeed, if the pattern of the first seven months of the fiscal year continued, PSNB would amount to £80.3bn in 2015/16, which would mean that Mr Osborne would overshoot by some £11bn the target of £69.5 billion contained in his July budget."

Ruth Miller, UK economist at Capital Economics, is also forecasting borrowing this year of £80.3bn and says today's figures leave the Chancellor "with less room for manoeuvre" in next week's Autumn Statement.

Government borrowing in the 12 months to October stood at £70bn taking the total national debt now to £1.5 trillion, or 80.5% of the UK's annual economic output