LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The British government said on Wednesday it is facing a 26.8 billion pound ($33.19 billion) loss from rescuing failed banks during the 2007-2009 financial crisis after a slump in the lenders' value since Britain's vote to leave European Union.
The Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain's independent budget watchdog, said it has increased its forecast for potential taxpayer losses by more than 9 billion pounds. In March, the watchdog forecast a loss of 17.5 billion pounds.
Britain's government spent more than 136.6 billion pounds rescuing some of Britain's biggest high street lenders, including Royal Bank of Scotland
RBS.L
, Lloyds Banking Group
LLOY.L
and Northern Rock, at the height of the financial crisis.
But the government has so far only managed to recoup about half of that money and the additional interest on the debt used to buy the holdings keeps on rising.
This is the second time in the last eight months the budget watchdog has recalculated the value of the remaining stakes as turmoil in financial markets has hammered bank shares. ($1 = 0.8074 pounds)
(Reporting By Andrew MacAskill and Lawrence White; Editing by Rachel Armstrong) ((Andrew.MacAskill@thomsonreuters.com; +442075421726; Reuters Messaging: andrew.macaskill@thomsonreuters.com))
The Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain's independent budget watchdog, said it has increased its forecast for potential taxpayer losses by more than 9 billion pounds. In March, the watchdog forecast a loss of 17.5 billion pounds.
Britain's government spent more than 136.6 billion pounds rescuing some of Britain's biggest high street lenders, including Royal Bank of Scotland
But the government has so far only managed to recoup about half of that money and the additional interest on the debt used to buy the holdings keeps on rising.
This is the second time in the last eight months the budget watchdog has recalculated the value of the remaining stakes as turmoil in financial markets has hammered bank shares. ($1 = 0.8074 pounds)
(Reporting By Andrew MacAskill and Lawrence White; Editing by Rachel Armstrong) ((Andrew.MacAskill@thomsonreuters.com; +442075421726; Reuters Messaging: andrew.macaskill@thomsonreuters.com))
