BRITONS are borrowing more money than ever, despite the growing economic gloom, official figures show.

The Bank of England said total lending hit £6.14bn in July, the highest figure since its records began in 1993.

Consumer credit grew by £1.69bn, about £330m more than the previous month, while the number of home loans taken out rose four per cent to a record £4.45bn.

The borrowing spree comes despite fears of more job losses in the manufacturing industry as it struggles to pull itself out of recession.

Interest rates have come down one per cent since the start of the year, to five per cent, and City analysts said this explained the consumer boom.

John Butler, UK economist at HSBC, said: "There's doom and gloom out there in terms of particular sectors and there's doom and gloom in newspaper reports, but consumers are being completely unaffected by the global slowdown.

"Interest rates are almost down to their lowest levels since the 1960s, unemployment is at a 30-year low, and house prices are taking off, so there's no reason why consumers shouldn't be confident."

Other figures from the Bank of England showed the housing boom could continue for some time, with a record £14.9bn-worth of mortgages approved last month, close to £1bn up on June's figure.

There is typically a three-month time lag between mortgages being approved and actually taken out.