More than half (53.4%) of UK businesses say they are confident they will meet their debt obligations, despite just under half saying their debt repayments had increased.

New data from the Office for National Statistics found that 23.5% of businesses are moderately confident, 3.5% aren't confident and 19.5% are unsure.

Confidence is highest among those in real estate, with 72.9% saying they are highly confident about managing their debts and none saying they have low or zero confidence.

The majority of those in professional scientific and technical activities (67.5%), information and communication (64.8%), and social work (61.5%) also said they were highly confident.

The majority of transport and storage companies (38.8%) are unsure whether they can meet their debts, while 29.9% are highly confident and 30.9% moderately confident.

The findings come with businesses reporting an increase in their debt repayment compared to their expectations:

• 15% reported debt repayments increased by over 50%
• 10% reported an increase between 20% and 50%
• 24% reported an increase of up to 20%.

Talk to us about your business debt repayments.