Britain's deficit improved last year to its lowest annual level in almost a decade, as tax receipts swelled despite looming Brexit, official data showed Tuesday. Net borrowing excluding bank bailouts stood at £52 billion ($66 billion, 61 billion euros) in the 2016/2017 year to the end of March, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

That contrasted with £72 billion in the previous financial year and was the lowest level since 2007/2008. The news will be welcomed by British finance minister Philip Hammond, whose Conservative government faces a general election on June 8. However, the deficit just missed the government's official target of £51.7 billion. "The fall in borrowing for the year as a whole was mainly due to central government receipts growth ... showing the resilience of economy after the Brexit vote," noted Capital Economics economist Scott Bowman.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017