Government finances recorded a surplus last month as the UK economy opened up from pandemic lockdowns and tax receipts improved.
The public finances showed a surplus of £2.9billion, compared with a £2.5billion deficit in January 2021.
Borrowing from the end of March to December was £138.5billion - the second highest since records began in 1993.
The data from the Office for National Statistics also showed that total public sector debt stood at £2.32trillion - or around 94.9% of gross domestic product.
FTSE 100
Meanwhile, in other economic news, growing fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to global stocks tumbling while oil prices continue to surge.
Tensions escalated after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised Ukraine's breakaway rebel-held regions as independent states.
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was down 78 points at 7,405 in early trading today.
International
US markets are braced for sharp losses at their opening bell later, with Nasdaq futures off 2.5%, S&P 500 futures down 1.8% and Dow Jones futures slipping by 1.3%.
Russian stocks yesterday posted their biggest fall since the global financial crisis as fears mount that a war with Ukraine is imminent.
The country's shares tumbled across the board, with state-owned energy giant Gazprom and financial services group Sberbank among the biggest fallers.
Song Seng Wun, a Singapore-based economist at CIMB Private Banking, said the risk of war is now at the forefront of investors' minds.
He added that markets were a "deep sea of red as the Ukraine crisis worsens".
"There are fears that freight and shipping costs that are already at elevated levels will climb higher because of demand-supply disruptions," he told the BBC.
Carlos Casanova, senior Asia economist at UBP, commented that short-term volatility in markets caused by both geopolitical factors and the US Federal Reserve was relentless.
He said the consequences would be higher oil prices, an equity sell-off and people flocking to safe-haven assets.
US Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Monday that she will assess incoming economic data over the next three weeks in deciding whether a 0.5% interest rate rise is needed at the central bank's next meeting in March.
It has also emerged that Germany may have slumped into a recession for the second time since the pandemic started.
The Bundesbank central bank said Europe's largest economy could see output drop "noticeably" this quarter as it emerges from its worst-ever surge in Covid cases.
German GDP fell by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of last year, meaning another decline in output would tip it into a technical recession.
Companies reporting today
- Finals: HSBC, Antofagasta, InterContinental Hotels, Smith & Nephew
- Interims: McBride, Hargreaves Lansdown