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Budget deficit shrinks to $13B
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CBC News
The federal government's budget deficit stood at $13.2 billion for the first six months of the current fiscal year, behind the pace of last year's $17.4 billion figure.
Higher than expected revenues, coupled with lower expenses, were credited with the improved showing.
The Department of Finance said Friday overall revenues were up $4.3 billion, or 3.9 per cent to $114.4 billion compared to the same period last year.
The department's monthly fiscal monitor showed personal income tax revenues were up $4.2 billion, or 7.7 per cent over the past six months. Corporate income tax revenues were up $0.9 billion, or 8.4 per cent.
Those higher revenues came as Ottawa managed to shave $400 million, or 0.4 per cent off program expenses, to $111.8 billion. Charges relating to paying off the public debt increased by $500 million, but transfer payments to provinces and other bodies decreased by $1.1 billion, or 1.4 per cent.
The $13.2 billion figure suggests Ottawa is on track to make its deficit projections for this year. The monthly figures tend to vary from month to month, but that $13.2 billion deficit over the first six months of the year is less than half of the $31 billion Finance Minister Jim Flaherty forecasted for all of 2011 earlier this month.
That figure was itself slightly higher than what the government forecasted in its budget earlier in the year.
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