Borrowing so far this year, excluding a one-off boost after assets from the Royal Mail's pension fund was transferred to the Treasury, is £44.9bn, £9.3bn higher than a year ago.
The Treasury said in statement: "The government remains committed to the credible plan we have set out to deal with Britain's debts, and today's numbers emphasise how risky it would be to deliberately increase borrowing."
The government had originally planned to eliminate the structural budget deficit by 2015 with a tough programme of spending cuts and tax rises. But the weak economy has forced it to extend the planned fiscal consolidation by another two years and Prime Minister David Cameron has warned austerity could last until 2020.
Britain's economy has been mired in recession since late last year, and the government has faced growing calls to focus on growth rather than austerity.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund said Britain could need to cut taxes or boost investment spending to support growth if the economy has not picked up by early next year.
So far, finance minister George Osborne has focused on schemes to lower banks' funding costs to get credit flowing, as well as guarantees to support infrastructure investment without spending taxpayers' money directly. Measures to support house-building are expected next month.
Public sector net debt, excluding financial sector interventions, totalled 65.7pc of gross domestic product, a record for the month of July, but down from the all-time record of 66.2pc hit in June.
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