Deficit In Canada's Province Of Alberta To Decline By $1.6Bln In 2021-22 - Budget

Deficit in Canada's Province of Alberta to Decline by $1.6Bln in 2021-22 - Budget

TORONTO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2021) The budget deficit in the Canadian province of Alberta is set to decline by $1.59 billion to $14.44 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal year, the provincial government said in its annual budget.

"A deficit of C$18.2 billion [US$14.44 billion] is targeted for 2021-22. This is C$2 billion [US$1.59 billion] less than the 2020-21 forecast," the province said on Thursday.

The deficit will be further reduced to $6.35 billion by 2023-24, the province estimates. Alberta's government attributes this to declining costs as the province comes to grips with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The province said the real GDP fell by an estimated 7.

8 percent in 2020 but anticipates growth of 4.8 percent in 2021 and expects the economy to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, one year earlier than expected.

The provincial government said it will invest over $15.87 billion in new construction projects, estimate to create up to 90,000 jobs and $18.25 billion in healthcare, a $714 million increase over 2020, to shore up areas impacted and strained by the pandemic.

The budget comes amid the Alberta's worst economic downturn in decades, with the pandemic exacerbating the lingering effects of the 2014 oil price crash.