Ottawa runs small surplus in July
Tags: Ottawa, Stephen Harper
The federal government ran a small surplus of $150-million in July and Ottawa’s books remain in surplus over the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Finance Canada released its monthly fiscal monitor report Friday, which tracks federal government spending and revenues.
Over the first four months of the current 2015-16 fiscal year, the federal government is running a $5.2-billion surplus. That is in contrast to an $807-million deficit during the same four-month period a year earlier.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has pointed to previous fiscal monitor reports to argue that Ottawa is on track to post a second consecutive surplus. Finance Canada confirmed last week that the federal government ran a surplus in 2014-15 after six consecutive years of deficits.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette reported in July that because the economy is growing at a slower pace than Ottawa expected at the time of the April budget, the final numbers for the current 2015-16 fiscal year are on track to show a small deficit.
About $2.1-billion of the $5.2-billion surplus so far this year is due to a one-time revenue gain from the federal government’s April sale of its remaining shares in General Motors.
The April budget assumed that the economy would grow by two per cent in 2015 and 2.2 per cent in 2016. A September survey of economists found that the average forecast is now for growth of 1.1 per cent this year and two per cent in 2016.
The issue of Ottawa’s bottom line is a central point of division between federal parties in this campaign.
Mr. Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair are promising to balance the books every year if either of them form government. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he will run three years of deficits in order to fund an ambitious infrastructure spending program before balancing the books in the fourth year of a Liberal government.
Finance Canada released its monthly fiscal monitor report Friday, which tracks federal government spending and revenues.
Over the first four months of the current 2015-16 fiscal year, the federal government is running a $5.2-billion surplus. That is in contrast to an $807-million deficit during the same four-month period a year earlier.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has pointed to previous fiscal monitor reports to argue that Ottawa is on track to post a second consecutive surplus. Finance Canada confirmed last week that the federal government ran a surplus in 2014-15 after six consecutive years of deficits.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette reported in July that because the economy is growing at a slower pace than Ottawa expected at the time of the April budget, the final numbers for the current 2015-16 fiscal year are on track to show a small deficit.
About $2.1-billion of the $5.2-billion surplus so far this year is due to a one-time revenue gain from the federal government’s April sale of its remaining shares in General Motors.
The April budget assumed that the economy would grow by two per cent in 2015 and 2.2 per cent in 2016. A September survey of economists found that the average forecast is now for growth of 1.1 per cent this year and two per cent in 2016.
The issue of Ottawa’s bottom line is a central point of division between federal parties in this campaign.
Mr. Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair are promising to balance the books every year if either of them form government. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he will run three years of deficits in order to fund an ambitious infrastructure spending program before balancing the books in the fourth year of a Liberal government.
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