The B.C. government finished the 2010-11 financial year with a much smaller deficit than it forecast, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon announced on Monday. The province ended the fiscal year with a $309-million deficit — about $1.4 billion less than forecast last year — and Falcon said the province is on track to balance its budget in 2013-14. The deficit is the amount the government is spending each year more than the revenue it takes in. The total provincial debt increased by $3.3 billion to $45.2 billion when $1.9 billion in taxpayer supported debt to finance capital infrastructure projects and $1.4 billion in self-supporting debt is included. Falcon credited tight control of government spending combined with an economic growth rate of four per cent and a 5.3 per cent increase in retail sales for reducing the deficit.
The government took in a total of $4.1 billion in revenue from the HST, which replaced the PST and GST in July 2010. "We've seen stronger economic growth in B.C. suggesting consumer confidence has remained strong under the HST," said Falcon. "This demonstrates our fiscal plan is working and we will continue to take a cautious approach to spending."
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Ministry of Finance: Public Accounts 2010-11
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