The Finance Department’s fiscal monitor has released data for the April-to-August period ahead of next week’s federal budget.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The federal government posted a deficit of $11.1-billion for the April-to-August period of its 2025-26 fiscal year.
In its monthly fiscal monitor report, the Finance Department says the result compared with a deficit of $9.8-billion for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue for the five-month period totalled $201.2-billion compared with $196.3-billion for the same stretch a year earlier, helped by higher corporate and personal income tax revenue and higher customs import duties, partially offset by lower GST revenues.
Program expenses, excluding net actuarial losses, amounted to $187.2-billion, up from $179.8-billion a year earlier, as spending on elderly benefits rose and EI benefit costs also increased, reflecting a higher unemployment rate. Major transfers to provinces, territories and municipalities also climbed.
Public debt charges for the period totalled $23-billion, down from $23.2-billion a year ago, while net actuarial losses amounted to $2.1-billion, down from $3.2-billion.
The figures come ahead of the federal budget next week.