UK Borrowing Down by Half as Sunak Readies Budget

British Pound Sterling banknotes are seen in a box at the Money Service Austria company's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 16, 2017. Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

LONDON—British public borrowing fell by almost half in the first six months of the current financial year from a post-World War Two high a year earlier, when the economy faced the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thursday’s official data will be welcome news for finance minister Rishi Sunak, who is due to present fresh budget forecasts on Oct. 27.