Federal deficit on track to meet $19.4B projected in 2018 budget

Canada is on track to meet its projected annual deficit figure of $19.4 billion for this fiscal year, according to new figures released by the Department of Finance.

"There was a budgetary deficit of $10.6 billion in March 2018, compared to a budgetary deficit of $10.4 billion reported for March 2017," said the department's latest Fiscal Monitor report.

The department said that between April 2017 and March 2018, the federal government posted a deficit of $16.2 billion. It posted a$21.8 billion deficitduring the same time periodthe previous year.

That deficit number does not include end-of-year adjustments, or the $4.2 billion being pumped into the government's plan to boost veterans' benefits, the monitor said.

"Taking year-end adjustments into account, results to date are broadly in line with a $19.4-billion deficit projected in Budget 2018."

In the last federal budget, Finance Minister Bill Morneau projected that his government would run a $19.4 billion deficit this year, falling to $15.1 billion next year before shrinking to $9.3 billion by the 2022-23 fiscal year.