UK government borrowing sees slight dip

UK government borrowed £120.6bn in the financial year to April 2013, slightly lower than the amount it borrowed the previous year.

The amount -was just £0.3bn lower than the previous year's total of £120.9bn.

The government wants to eliminate the budget deficit by 2017-2018.

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said the government would continue with its plan to cut borrowing, but Labour said the pace was "catastrophically off course".

Borrowing in March fell to £15.1bn from £16.7bn a year earlier, excluding interventions such as bank bailouts, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

Meanwhile, public sector net debt - the amount that the government has borrowed over successive deficits is now £1.2 trillion, or about 75.4% of GDP. 

The figures are preliminary and may be subject to change, it said.