Province’s third-quarter shows deficit slightly lower than predicted

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This article was published 20/03/2017 (3149 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is projected to incur a deficit of $872 million for the current fiscal year — an improvement of $39 million from what Finance Minister Cameron Friesen predicted it would be in his first budget last spring.

The Finance Department released the province’s third-quarter report on Monday. It takes in the period from April 1, 2016 to the end of December.

In a news release, Friesen said the improvement comes despite increased debt servicing costs.

The latest deficit projection is also a marked improvement from what was predicted in the department’s second-quarter report in December. At that time, officials were predicting that the province’s summary deficit would soar to $1.004 billion.

Friesen pointed to increases in income tax revenue and other revenues for the variance.

He noted that an increase of $64 million in projected debt service costs over the $874 million estimated in the budget are outside the control of the provincial government but will have a significant impact on the province’s ability to meet its financial targets.

“High debt servicing costs mean hundreds of millions of hard-earned Manitoba tax dollars cannot be invested in front-line services or capital projects,” Friesen said in a statement. “We remain deeply concerned with the uncertainty created by the previous administration’s significant borrowing. Our government is committed to strategic investments that will provide Manitoba families with certainty for a prosperous future.”

Friesen will introduce his 2017-18 budget on April 11.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca