Alberta Government’s First Quarter Fiscal Update

On Wednesday, August 23, 2017 the government of Alberta released its fiscal update. In it the government acknowledged they need to use its reserve fund along with other savings to keep its $10.5-billion deficit from increasing further.

Part of the income issue is that Oil has not rebounded as far as the government initially expected as it hovered around $49 a barrel rather than the expected $55.

The province expects the economy to grow by 3.1 per cent in 2017, up from the March budget forecast of 2.6 per cent. Employment is also expected to rise by 1.3 per cent, higher than the 0.9 per cent forecast in the budget.

The government is deferring $700 million over the next 3 years for the Capital Plan. This decrease is primarily due to re-profiling of school, health facility, continuing care, housing and other projects to future years and savings on projects.

You can read the Update in full here.