Public borrowing is much higher than the chancellor predicted in his pre-Budget report last year, official figures have shown.

Office of National Statistics (ONS) data published on Wednesday showed that net public borrowing had reached a record £90bn in the last financial year.

The figure means borrowing is 6.19 per cent of gross domestic product, the highest level since 1993, a £55.3bn increase on borrowing in 2007/08.

Treasury calculations at the time of the pre-Budget report in November suggested that net borrowing for 2008/09 would be £78bn - missing the true figure by £12bn.

The ONS figures, released on the day that the chancellor will present his Budget to the House of Commons, showed that UK debt had reached £743.6bn at the end of March - equal to 50.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level since 1976.

Support for the financial sector totals £134.5bn, without which net debt is 41.7 per cent of GDP, but that still breaks the government's ‘golden rule’ that net debt should not be more than 40 per cent of GDP.

Other figures released by the ONS show March's budget deficit, £52.3bn, is the largest since records began in 1946, that tax receipts fell by 12 per cent in the month while public spending rose by 2.4 per cent.

Official unemployment figures, for the three months to February, showed the biggest quarterly increase since 1991. The total number of people looking for work was 2.1 million in February, the highest it has been since February 1997.