Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne speaks with reporters before cabinet last week.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The federal government will show an improved bottom line in the coming spring economic statement, posting a lower projected deficit for the current fiscal year and future years, according to a senior government official.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is scheduled to release his spring update on Tuesday. He also has a related news conference planned for Monday in Montreal.
His Nov. 4 budget projected a $78.3-billion deficit for 2025-26 and $65.4-billion for the current fiscal year that began April 1.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the official because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the issue.
Several private-sector economists have recently reported federal revenues are likely to be stronger than projected in the November budget. While this would allow Ottawa to show smaller projected deficits, the economists said they expected new spending announcements will use up most of that fiscal room.
The economists said part of that improvement is because of statistical revisions to the gross domestic product that took place after the release of the Nov. 4 budget. Those statistical revisions are unrelated to any government policy decisions.
Signs of an improved bottom line were evident Friday, when the Finance Department released its monthly fiscal monitor report.
That report showed that the federal deficit totalled $25.5-billion over the first 11 months of the fiscal year.
The government typically posts large one-month deficits in March, the final month of the fiscal year.
The government announced last year that it would be changing the timing of its key financial reports. The annual budget was announced in the fall, instead of the spring, and the typical spring budget is being replaced by an economic statement, which is also called a fiscal update.
Economic statements primarily focus on updating forecasts for revenue and expenses and their impact on Ottawa’s bottom line. They sometimes include some new spending.