(Adds tourist, imports data)

ATHENS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Greece's current account deficit more than halved in September compared with the same month last year on the back of stronger tourism and weaker imports, the Bank of Greece said on Monday.

Central bank data showed the current account deficit was 404 million euros ($440.64 million) in September, down from a deficit of 850 million euros in the same month of 2022.

Tourism receipts in September rose by 14.6% to 3.3 billion euros, as foreign arrivals increased by an annual 12.7%, Bank of Greece data showed.

A larger drop in imports than in exports at current prices also helped, according to the central bank data.

Greece, which heavily relies on tourism, saw its trade deficit widening by 63% year-on-year in 2022, to 20 billion euros, or 9.7% of its economic output, on the back of costlier energy imports.

Higher tourism revenues and lower imports helped shrink the trade deficit in the January-September period to 7.3 billion euros from a deficit of 11.9 billion in the same period last year, according to central bank's data.

($1 = 0.9168 euros) (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou Editing by Bernadette Baum)