Newfoundland and Labrador is projecting a deficit of $154 million for the current fiscal year. Siobhan Coady, deputy premier and minister of finance for Newfoundland and Labrador, delivers her 2023 budget in the House of Assembly, in St John's, Thursday, March 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador is projecting a deficit of $154 million for the current fiscal year.
The figure is a slight improvement from the $160-million deficit forecast when the province tabled its budget in March.
Finance Minister Siobhan Coady said in a budget update today the province is aiming to balance its books by the next fiscal year, which begins in April 2024.
Coady says revenues are up by about $204 million, mostly due to Australian oil company Woodside Energy forfeiting deposits on exploration bids in the province’s offshore.
However, she says the government will have to borrow up to $700 million more than anticipated in March, bringing its total net debt to $17.1 billion.
In the province of about 535,000 people, that works out to nearly $32,000 per person.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.
