Five things stand out above the rest in the federal government’s budget, according to ATB Financial.
In a release Tuesday, ATB said that debt, deficit, debt as a share of the GDP, revenue and expenditures are five key focuses of the budget.
The federal deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year is projected to come in at $354.2 billion. The federal government is anticipating rising consumer spending that will help pay down the deficit over the next 12 months, with a deficit of $154.7 billion this fiscal year and $59.7 billion in 2022-23.
The deficit before the pandemic in 2019-20 was $39.4 billion.
The federal debt reached $1.08 trillion in 2020-21 and will hit $1.23 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year.
The debt-to-GDP ratio will increase from 31.2 per cent in 2019-20 to 51.2 per cent in 2021-22.
As for revenue, federal revenue fell by 11 per cent during the pandemic, but is projected to rise six per cent above its pre-pandemic level in 2021-22.
Total federal expenditure (excluding net actuarial losses) was $362.9 billion before the pandemic in 2019-20. It rose to an estimated $634.9 billion during the fiscal year that just ended (2020-21) for an increase of 75 per cent.
Spending is projected to be $497.6 billion this fiscal year (2021-22) which is 37 per cent above the pre-pandemic levels.