On March 22, the Legault government will present a budget containing measures to combat a rise in consumer prices that exceeds its forecasts last fall.
The Prime Minister, François Legault, asked the population affected by inflation to be patient until the tabling of the plan, which will provide for aid measures.
“I am very aware that the increase in the price of rents, groceries, gasoline, is very bad right now, he said. Inflation is very high, higher than increases in citizens’ incomes. We’re going to do something. »
Minutes earlier, after announcing the budget date, Finance Minister Eric Girard acknowledged that instead of a 3 percent inflation rate for the current fiscal year, he now expects to 4 percent price growth.
“Expected inflation for 2022 is one percent higher than what we had forecast,” he said.
Girard attributed the upward correction to the wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 as well as geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, which notably drove up the price of energy.
The upward jump in the number of coronavirus cases in recent months also had an impact on the economic growth forecast last fall, which Mr. Girard revised down by 0.3 percentage points. In November, in his economic update, Mr. Girard expected “exceptional” economic growth of 6.5 percent this year.
On this occasion, the government had already unveiled aid measures to fight inflation.
In the National Assembly on Tuesday, the opposition parties announced their proposals to fight against the rise in prices.
Mr. Girard coldly welcomed a proposal from Quebec solidaire which suggests freezing rents.
“Usually when you freeze a tariff there is then a tariff jump and history has shown that this is not a good thing,” he said.
Further details will follow.