Federal Deficit of April to September Announced to be $8.89-billion

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

The Finance Department made an announcement on Friday mentioning that the budget of September 2012 was $2.69-billion during the month, compared to $2.75-billion in September 2011. This implied that the federal government’s deficit reduction was slowed in September, with September’s shortfall being almost at the same level as 2011. This has now totaled the total April-to-September shortfall to $8.89-billion, that has lessened from the $11.8-billion of the same period last year.

The revenue collected in September was summed at $18.5-billion, which is also almost the same as last year, since some personal and corporate taxes were raised in addition to the income from employment insurance premiums. The expenses of the month were tabled at $18.9-billion, that is an increase of almost 1% compared to the same month last year, due to the higher provincial government transfers offset by lower federal government and program costs. Hence, calculatedly the deficit for the month of September is almost at the same stage as it was in August, when the shortfall was around $3.2-billion almost matching the $3.1-billion level of August 2011.

The Fall Economic Update released on Nov.13 by the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, estimates the overall 2012-13 deficit to be somewhere around $7-billion, i.e. a higher than forecast in the March budget.  This is implies that the government will have to extend its budget-balancing target up to a year at 2016-17. But, Mr. Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper are still in pursuit to attempt their best and get the numbers balanced before the next election, scheduled in 2015.