A BIG NUMBER

£1.2 trillion is a large wad of notes. Written in full, the number stands as £1,200,000,000,000. It is so large that as I write it, I have to check more than once that I have got the number of zeros right.

This large number is what the U.K. Treasury expects the public sector net debt for the United Kingdom to be at the end of the 2011-12 fiscal year; in other words, in two years' time. In layman's terms it is what the British Government owes on behalf of the citizens it represents, and it works out to around £20,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

This number was not highlighted in the Chancellor's Budget press release issued today, it is in fact tucked away in table C13 of Appendix C of the Treasury's full set of Budget documents, the part dealing with the public finances. I am not surprised. The word billion has become increasingly common in recent years, but trillion has yet to catch on. There are, after all, not many things that require discussion of a thirteen digit number; and if you owe a lot of money, it is generally wise to keep quiet about it. If you can, of course ........

Walter Blotscher