UK expected to miss borrowing targets May's borrowing figures were higher than the same month last year as the double-dip recession forced a plunge in income tax receipts and a rise in welfare benefits. Some economists have warned that the Chancellor is already on course to significantly overshoot his full-year borrowing target of £120 billion, while others have said the country's prized AAA credit rating is under threat. Last week, the official forecaster warned the Government must find £17 billion of additional spending cuts or tax increases at the end of its current austerity plan or eventually face a £65 billion hole in the public finances. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the additional £17 billion in savings by the year to April 2018 would be needed to get Britain's debt back to pre-crisis levels by 2061. The OBR has predicted that borrowing will fall from £124.4 billion last year to £92 billion, including the Royal Mail pension impact, in 2012/2013 and £98 billion in 2013/2014. The Chancellor is in the process of rolling out a series of tough austerity measures, which include billions of pounds of spending cuts and hundreds of thousands of public sector job losses. Last week, Mr Osborne and Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King launched a multibillion-pound lending scheme to stimulate economic growth - but ministers insisted the move was not a "plan B." Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said the Chancellor was set to overshoot official forecasts "unless the economy suddenly finds a new lease of life."