Britain's borrowing ballooned by another £12.4 billion last month, but tax receipts rose year-on-year as the economic recovery gathered pace, official figures revealed.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing in the 11 months of the year so far had hit an all-time high of £131.9 billion after public sector net borrowing rose again in February.
But there was welcome good news for the Government ahead of next week's Budget and the looming general election as Thursday's figures revealed that tax receipts rose by 3.6% - the largest rise since April 2008.
The ONS also revised January's borrowing figures down sharply to £43 million from £4.3 billion.
Tax receipts have now risen for three out of the last four months after a series of revisions to previous figures, according to the ONS.
It said the February rise to £42.6 billion came as a result of the pick-up in economic activity and the reversal in the VAT reduction.
Receipts from VAT, which was hiked from 15% to 17.5% at the start of the year, rose 30% to £6.9 billion last month.
Thursday's figures and the revision to January borrowing will fuel expectations that full-year borrowing will undershoot the Government's grim forecast for £178 billion.
Revisions announced have trimmed net borrowing by £2.9 billion in the financial year to date, largely due to changes in tax receipt estimations.
Lower than feared levels of unemployment are also thought to be helping limit borrowing.
