Government spending to tackle the Covid19 pandemic has soared to £190 billion, the Treasury has revealed.
In comes after the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a further £30bn package of support in yesterday's Summer Statement.
Last month, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimated the crisis had cost an extra £133bn. The new figures from the Treasury suggest a 40% jump in just a month. It means the budget deficit is expected to rise above £300bn for the year, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). Prior to the pandemic, the government was expecting a deficit of just £55bn this year.
Of the £190bn total, £15bn has been used to buy personal protective equipment and a further £10bn on testing and tracing.
Speaking to the BBC, Paul Johnson director of the IFS, said: "There is a huge public services additional spending that we didn't really know about that was announced (on Wednesday). It was kind of skated over, but £15bn for PPE for frontline workers is an enormous sum."
"I don't think the chancellor is desperately worried about the size of the deficit this year. What will concern him is the size of the deficit the year after, and the year after, and the year after that," he added.
