Chancellor Gordon Brown received a boost after figures showed Britain's public finances held up last month.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the public purse recorded a surplus of £11.86bn in January, slightly lower than the £12bn surplus recorded during the same month last year.
A large surplus is usually recorded in January, which is a key month for corporation and income tax receipts.
The data showed corporation tax came in at £5.72bn, up from the £5.38bn recorded in January 2001, despite the global economic downturn.
Income tax fell to £15.7bn, down from £16.78bn.
Danny Gabay, economist at investment bank J P Morgan, said: "I think the Chancellor will have heaved a sigh of relief over these.
"When looking at this on a longer term basis he is not that far way from what he has predicted for this year. But I do not think the problem will be this year but next year."
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