This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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In light of costs bared by the federal government in disaster relief efforts after Alberta floods this year, its monthly deficit has swelled up to $3.8-billion in September from $2.2-billion in the same month last year. Almost halfway in the current fiscal year, the federal deficit is estimated to be around $10.7-billion, which was almost $9.4-billion at same time last year. These statistics are viewable in Finance Canada’s monthly fiscal monitor report, which keeps an eye of federal expenses and revenues.
The report highlighted that Ottawa registered two unrelated but equally unique entries in September, namely the $2.8-billion liability for the Alberta flood disaster assistance and a one-time payment of roughly $700-million from the sale of 30 million General Motors shares that were purchased during the 2008 auto bailout. Finance Canada speculated that if the two entries had not cancelled out each other’s effect, the deficit for the first six months of the year would have flamed up to $8.6-billion.
In a fiscal update provided by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in the start of this month, he forecasted the deficit to reach about $17.9-billion in the current fiscal year, along with an additional $5.5-billion deficit in 2014-15 followed by an estimated surplus of $3.7-billion in 2015-16. The update revealed that the government is considering selling off federal assets in order to aid Ottawa in overcoming its deficit. Accordingly, Ottawa made an announcement of having sold the Canadian High Commission in London for $530-million to a developer from India this week.
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