August 2020
Fiscal Monitor for April –June 2020
June 2020
The federal government recorded a deficit of $33.6 billion in June 2020, compared to a surplus of $1.3 billion in June 2019. This deterioration primarily reflects the impact of the COVID-19 on economic growth and the temporary COVID-19 support measures in June 2020. Budgetary revenues decreased by $7.9 billion (28.5%), program expenses increased by $27.9 billion (114.4%), while public debt charges declined by $0.9 billion (41.3%) from year earlier levels.
CHALLENGES FOR POST COVID BUDGET PLANNING
In the July 8, 2020 “Economic and Fiscal Snapshot”, the Government presented revised fiscal projections for 2019-20 and 2020-21 only. It stated that “given the unprecedented degree of uncertainty clouding the economic outlook, providing an economic and fiscal forecast beyond 2021 with an appropriate degree of confidence is not possible at this time and would potentially be misleading”.
