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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain can sustain a relatively high level of government debt because of its good standing in financial markets, Chancellor Philip Hammond said on Thursday.

Britain will have to borrow 122 billion pounds more over the next five years than it planned before June’s Brexit referendum, Hammond said in a budget update a day earlier.

About half of the increase reflects a likely slowdown in growth caused by the vote to leave the European Union.

“The UK can sustain a relatively high level of debt simply because we have high credibility with the markets because we have kept government spending under control,” Hammond told Sky News in an interview.