Britain’s headline public borrowing fell to £9.4 billion in September, according to figures released today by the Office for National Statistics.

Economists had forecast a drop to £10.1 billion, down from £11 billion in September.

Income from corporation tax has were the strongest on record, showing that the government’s clamp down on tax avoidance may be beginning to take effect. However, the figures also showed that the government’s total expenditure rose to its highest level since records began.

Chancellor George Osborne has vowed to focus on debt reduction since his appointment to the post, and aims to run the country on a budget surplus by 2020. Whilst for the first six months of the 2015/16 tax year public sector net borrowing was 13.9 percent lower than the year before, Osborne still has a long way to go to meet his target; public finances deteriorated in August to their worst level in three years.

Osborne is due to publish updated budget forecasts on Nov. 25.