Council Borrowing Leaps To ￡1 Bn After Icelandic Crisis

摘要

Local government borrowed almost ￡1bn in the aftermath of the Icelandic banking crisis. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics on 20 November revealed that town hall borrowing in October topped ￡900m, compared with just ￡152m in September. Councils borrowed ￡500m in October 2007. The significant rise has been partially attributed to the collapse of several Icelandic banks, in which local authorities still have ￡800m frozen in defunct accounts. Following the crisis, some coun- cils said they would borrow to fund short-term cashflow problems. For example, Plymouth City Council borrowed an extra ￡9m to fund a budget shortfall.