{"id":808092,"date":"2026-07-17T15:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/808092\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:30:11","slug":"affordability-measures-possible-this-fall-as-province-benefits-from-oil-prices-and-exchange-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/808092\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordability Measures Possible This Fall as Province Benefits from Oil Prices and Exchange Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Affordability<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Craig Pardy speaking with reporters (VOCM News)<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Craig Pardy says new affordability measures will be announced in the fall, but what they will look like remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

The minister told reporters today that Newfoundland and Labrador is generating surplus revenue based on oil price and exchange rate projections established in the spring budget.<\/p>\n

The provincial government benefits to the tune of $33 million for every $1 in excess of the budgeted price projection on a barrel of oil.<\/p>\n

The province set the projected price of oil at $79 US a barrel in the spring, but as of July 15th, it was averaging $98. Pardy says the province is also benefiting from the exchange rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the exchange rate with the U.S. dollar at .74 cents, on July 15th it was .72. For every one cent differential it would be $35 million, so both of those, we\u2019re in the positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believes there will be a \u201chost\u201d of affordability measures announced in the fall, and he expects they\u2019ll have a better read on those numbers at that time.<\/p>\n

The province has set an 80\/20 ratio for budget surplus \u2013 80 per cent to service the debt, and 20 per cent for affordability measures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Photo via Suncor Energy Inc.)<\/p>\n

Morningstar DBRS confirms province\u2019s credit rating at \u2018A\u2019<\/p>\n

Bond rating agency Morningstar DBRS has confirmed the province\u2019s long-term debt credit rating at \u201cA\u201d, with the short-term debt credit rating at R-1 or low.<\/p>\n

The agency has also confirmed the same credit ratings for NL Hydro\u2019s guaranteed long-term debt and short-term debt.<\/p>\n

The trends on all credit ratings are Stable, reflecting Morningstar DBRS\u2019 view that despite the deterioration in the province\u2019s budgetary outlook, risks to the credit ratings are balanced.<\/p>\n

Confirming what the finance minister has already indicated, the agency says the province is expected to outperform its forecasts due to global commodity prices.<\/p>\n

Morningstar DBRS also says the finalization of the MOU with Hydro-Quebec, increased federal defence spending and the potential development of the Bay du Nord project \u201ccould have significant positive fiscal and economic benefits over the medium to longer term.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finance Minister Craig Pardy speaking with reporters (VOCM News) Finance Minister Craig Pardy says new affordability measures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,269876,185074,269873,269875,269877,269874,269870,269871,269872],"class_list":["post-808092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-listen-to-vocm","tag-news-radio","tag-news-radio-st-johns","tag-st-johns-fm-radio","tag-st-johns-local-radio","tag-st-johns-radio-station","tag-vocm","tag-vocm-590","tag-vocm-radio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808092","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=808092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}