REGINA – Saskatchewan’s projected budget deficit has grown over the last quarter, but is still slightly smaller than forecast in last spring’s budget.
And Finance Minister Donna Harpauer says she still plans to balance the books by next year.
The mid-year fiscal update pegs the deficit at $348 million, up $42 million from the first-quarter estimates.
But that figure is still $17 million lower than projected on budget day.
Revenue from oil and Crown corporations is up, but that is being offset by lower uranium prices and less money from Crown land sales.
Expenses are forecast to be $121 million higher than they were in the spring budget, and nearly half of that is because of increased pension expenses.
