(Quebec) The Government of Quebec reports a budget surplus of $496 million at the end of the first four months of the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Posted at 6:08 p.m.
Quebec posted a deficit of 214 million during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
The government attributes this result as of July 31, 2022 in large part to a 10.8% increase in own-source revenue at the start of the year, driven in particular by growth in wages and salaries, household consumption and business profits. .
According to the press release of the “Monthly report of financial operations as of July 31, 2022”, published on Friday, expenditure was up by 6.7%, mainly in education and higher education.
The document maintains that the more sustained growth in spending at the start of the fiscal year “will be absorbed during the year to reach the annual target of 3.4%”.
This result stems from revenue of $46.2 billion, expenditures of $44.6 billion and deposits of $1.1 billion in the Generations Fund.
The office of Finance Minister Eric Girard — who was reappointed this week — recalls that economic activity in Quebec has shown signs of slowing down in recent months.
All the same, the financial results currently remain in line with forecasts, it is said.
“The economic risks facing Quebec, including persistent inflation, rising interest rates, disruptions in supply chains and the war in Ukraine, could however affect public finances during the year. “, declares Mr. Girard in the press release.
“It is therefore important to remain prudent in managing the financial framework,” he adds.
This is also what the Auditor General, Guylaine Leclerc, concluded in August following the unveiling of the document provided by Minister Girard on the anticipated state of public finances for the period from 2022-2023 to 2024- 2025, as the election campaign approaches.
Mme Leclerc indicated that the Minister’s budget forecasts were “plausible”, while adding that the impact of the economic “climate of uncertainty” on the health of Quebec’s public finances remained “unusually high”.
According to the data presented in the “Pre-election report on the state of Québec’s public finances – August 2022”, a budget deficit of $1.7 billion is forecast for the entire fiscal year, before use of the stabilization reserve.
This deficit includes a provision for “economic risks and other support and recovery measures” of 2 billion.