Of course, now (in April 2009), these differences between the debt under Maastricht and debt in the Pre-Budget Report are insignificant in the context of the global credit crunch and the actions taken by the government to deal with the crisis. The Pre-Budget Report predicted that the 40% limit would be significantly exceeded over the period from 2007 to 2013. The Report predicted that the PSND will rise from £527 bn in 2007/08 to £729 bn in 2009/10 to £1084 bn in 2013/14 (HM Treasury, November 2008, page 198). As percentages of GDP, these are 36 in 2007/08, 48 in 2009/2010 and 57 in 2013/14 hat is far in excess of the 40% limit.
Note that these percentages exclude the Government's financial sector interventions54 (HM Treasury, Nov 2008, table 1.1), but even without these, the 40% limit is clearly smashed. In the light of these rises in the PSND, it is mildly amusing to read on page 15 of the Pre-Budget Report that "The government's fiscal objectives remain unchanged. To achieve its objectives, the Government will depart temporarily from the fiscal rules until the global shocks have worked their way through the economy in full" (HM Treasury, November 2008).
54 . Some idea of the scale of this is given by the fact that the central government's net cash requirement in 2008/09 is predicted to be about £94 billion higher than at the time of the 2008 Budget (HM Treasury November 2008, page 217). £94 billion is about one-sixth of the estimated PSND in 2007/08 and a little over 6% of GDP in the same year.