Alberta Budget Report 2013

On March 7, 2013, the Honourable Doug Horner, President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance, presented his first budget. As expected, the fiscal plan outlined today reflects the major decline in non-renewable resource revenue resulting from the bitumen bubble. The balanced budget that was projected last year for 2013-14 will now be an operating deficit of $2.1 billion.

For 2013-14, resource revenue will be $6.2 billion lower than forecast last year. With this decline, the government has announced moderate spending increases in priority programs, but there will be no increase in the overall operating expense forecast from last year. As well, increases in operational spending in 2014-15 and 2015-16 will be limited. As announced prior to the budget, there will be a three-year management salary freeze, effective April 1, and the government will reduce the number of public sector managers by 10% over the same time period.

Highlights

• Operating deficit of $1.5 billion for 2012-13
• Operating deficit of $2.1 billion for 2013-14
• Government operational spending frozen for 2013-14
• No new taxes or tax increases

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