UK public sector net borrowing, excluding the temporary impact of financial interventions and the transfers of the Royal Mail pension scheme and the Bank of England’s QE income, was £120.6 billion in 2012-13 – marginally below the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast of £120.9 billion and an outturn of £120.9 billion in 2011-12. The Chancellor, therefore, has avoided the embarrassment of a rise in  “underlying” borrowing, although only because of a late-year effort to defer some spending into 2013-14.

Or has he? The above measure, on which media reporting appears to be focusing, still includes a one-off benefit from the transfer of profits of the Bank of England’s Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS) in April 2012. If SLS flows are also excluded, borrowing was £123.0 billion in 2012-13 versus £120.2 billion in the prior financial year.

Does anyone except the Chancellor and Ed Balls care? The “big picture” is that deficit reduction is proving painfully difficult but any feasible alternative strategy – whether involving more or less “austerity” – would probably make only a minor difference to the economic and fiscal outlook.