Canada deficit hits 5 billion Canadian dollars in June

• Source: Xinhua
• [11:32 August 22 2009]
• Comments

Canada is reporting a finance deficit of 5 billion Canadian dollars (about 4.5 billion U. S. dollars) in June, as a result of lower tax revenues and high spending on employment insurance (EI) and the auto bailout.

In the same month last year, the government had a 1.6 billion Canadian dollars surplus.

 The deficit for the first three months of the fiscal year, April to June, widened to 12.5 billion Canadian dollars, compared with a surplus of 800 million Canadian dollars in the same period in 2008, the Finance Department said in its monthly Fiscal Monitor Friday.

 In June, revenues fell 13.1 percent, due to a lower taking from income tax and the goods and service tax (GST).

 Total spending hit 20.7 billion Canadian dollars, up 25.2 percent, because of higher E costs and support payments for the auto industry.

 The government is projecting a deficit of 50.2 billion Canadian dollars this fiscal year. (1 US dollar = 1.1111 Canadian dollars)