Province Provides Mid-Year Financial Update, Says Projected Deficit Lowered

The province is forecasting a smaller deficit than projected in March after delivering a mid-year fiscal update.Manitoba’s deficit for 2021-2022 could be almost half a billion dollars, coming out at an estimated $1.12-billion dollars by March 2022.Finance Minister Scott Fielding says the province is seeing encouraging signs of economic growth.But Crown corporations are seeing a drop in income like Manitoba Hydro forecasting a net loss of almost 200-million dollars.READ MORE: Manitoba ends fiscal year $2.1 billion in deficit Trending Stories The province’s unemployment rate is looking stronger, sitting at 5.1 per cent, the second lowest in Canada.Manitoba has about 381-million dollars left out of its almost $1.2-billion set aside for COVID-19 and contigencies and Fielding says that’s enough to handle disruptions brought on by the Omicron variant. Story continues below advertisement “We have a good amount of money that’s left over,” Fielding said. “If there’s additional supports that are needed, if we need to enhance the vaccine program, if we need rapid tests, the money’s in place to do that.”Fielding says the provincial government will focus on cutting its debt after the threat of the pandemic is largely over. © 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.