UK faces reckoning over US$3.4 trillion debt pile

Debt burden: People walking past stalls in west London. The UK is more susceptible to sudden debt-sustainability concerns because the pound, unlike the dollar, is not the world’s dominant reserve currency. — AFP

LONDON: From the financial crisis to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Britain has borrowed and spent its way out of every jam. The bill for that is becoming a worry all its own.

The UK’s public debt load has soared by more than 40% to almost £2.6 trillion (US$3.4 trillion or RM15.8 trillion)) since the pandemic struck, leaving the country owing more than its entire annual economic output for the first time since 1961.