Government borrowing between April and October totalled 98.3 billion pounds ($122.49 billion), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday.
The data meant borrowing was running about 22 billion pounds higher than in the same period last year but almost 17 billion pounds less than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast in March, giving Hunt some fiscal room for manoeuvre.
The ONS said that in October alone, public sector net borrowing, excluding state-owned banks, was 14.9 billion pounds last month.
A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to public sector net borrowing, excluding state-owned banks, of 12 billion pounds in the month.
The figure was also higher than the OBR's forecast for borrowing of 13.7 billion pounds in the month.
Persons:
Jeremy Hunt, Laura Kuenssberg, Isabel Infantes, Hunt, Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Liz, Michal Stelmach, Stelmach, William Schomberg, Kate Holton, Jason Neely
Organizations:
BBC Broadcasting House, REUTERS, National Statistics, KPMG, Labour Party, ONS, Thomson
Locations:
London, Britain