Economists Stephen Gordon (ULaval), Mike Moffatt (Western) and Kevin Milligan (UBC), as well as Macleans.ca’s Erica Alini and guest bloggers write about the economy and economic policy in Canada, the U.S. and the world. We like charts. On Twitter, follow Stephen: @stephenfgordon; Mike: @mikepmoffatt; Kevin: @kevinmilligan and Erica: @ealini.

Federal deficit still looking set to come in well under $26bn

by Erica Alini on Friday, February 22, 2013 12:45pm - 0 Comments

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The federal deficit was $0.6 bn in December 2012, up slightly from the $0.5 bn recorded in December 2011, the Finance Department revealed today. Still, red ink accumulated since the beginning of the fiscal year, in April, amounted to $13 bn, below the $16.1 registered over the same period in 2011-2012.

Stephen Gordon noted a couple of weeks ago how the monthly deficit data available until then were difficult to square with the government’s estimate of a $26 bn deficit by fiscal year-end. April-to-November spending and revenue patterns, he wrote, would indicate the overall deficit for 2012-2013 will be considerably lower.

Today’s December data show very much the same picture.

Tags: federal deficit

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