{"id":311360,"date":"2025-11-28T01:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T01:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/311360\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T01:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T01:17:08","slug":"alberta-faces-6-4-billion-deficit-as-falling-oil-prices-and-trade-troubles-take-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/311360\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta faces $6.4-billion deficit as falling oil prices and trade troubles take toll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says the government remains focused on controlling spending despite a tough year.JASON FRANSON\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Falling oil prices and trade troubles continue to threaten Alberta\u2019s finances, but the province\u2019s deficit is expected to shrink only slightly.<\/p>\n

It has been pegged at $6.4-billion, down $40-million from a projected $6.5-billion this summer.<\/p>\n

The latest update still means this year\u2019s budget represents a massive multibillion-dollar swing from an $8.3-billion surplus last year.<\/p>\n

The biggest factor is a 30 per cent decline in natural resource revenue since last year.<\/p>\n

While February\u2019s budget projected the price of West Texas Intermediate oil \u2013 the North American benchmark \u2013 to be US$68 a barrel, the province now predicts it will average US$61.50 per barrel.<\/p>\n

Federal budget 2025: Provinces assess where infrastructure funds will flow<\/a><\/p>\n

Finance Minister Nate Horner says it has been a tough year for everyone, and the province remains focused on controlling spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter the fiscal challenges, we will continue investing in families and the services they rely on,\u201d he said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n

Alberta is reporting record high oil sands production, but global trends are \u201cexpected to keep a lid on demand and prices\u201d for the rest of the fiscal year, budget documents say.<\/p>\n

The province has estimated that every dollar drop in the per-barrel WTI price slashes $750-million from Alberta\u2019s treasury.<\/p>\n

At the same time, ongoing trade wars with China and the United States continue to weigh down the province\u2019s agriculture, manufacturing and lumber exports.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s recent rapid population growth is expected to steady. But the province is still under added pressure, having topped a population of five-million people earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Recent labour agreements with large public sector unions, including those representing teachers, registered nurses and civil servants, mean the province needs to dip into its contingency fund to the tune of about $881-million. <\/p>\n

Of the $4-billion set aside for emergencies, $1.7-billion has been spent.<\/p>\n

Underpinning the fiscal picture is overall spending of $79-billion, a small increase from February\u2019s budget but a jump of $5.3-billion from what Alberta spent last year.<\/p>\n

Total revenue for 2025 is set to be $73-billion \u2013 a drop of $1.2-billion from the budget earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Taxpayer-supported debt is expected to be $82.9-billion by March, an increase from $82.5-billion, due to the deficit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says the government remains focused on controlling spending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-311360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}