Britain recorded a smaller-then-expected budget deficit of 14.347 billion pounds ($17.37 billion) in September, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday.

A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to public sector net borrowing, excluding state-owned banks, of 18.3 billion pounds.

Government borrowing between April and September, the first half of the 2023/24 financial year, totalled 81.7 billion pounds, 15.3 billion pounds more than in the first half of the previous financial year.

British finance minister Jeremy Hunt is due to give a mid-year update on his budget plans alongside new borrowing forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Nov. 22.

Hunt said last week higher interest rates were likely to cost Britain an extra 20 billion to 30 billion pounds a year, and has all but ruled out near-term tax cuts, saying the government needed to prioritise bringing down inflation.

Many members of Hunt's Conservative Party want him to announce plans to lower taxes before national elections which are likely to be held some time in 2024.

($1 = 0.8258 pounds)

(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by William James)