September 30, 2015
Manitoba Government Releases Public Accounts for 2014-15 Fiscal Year
Manitoba’s year-end financial results show an improvement from 2013-14, Finance Minister Greg Dewar announced today as the public accounts for the 2014-15 fiscal year were released.
The minister also announced that, once again, the province received a clean audit opinion from the Manitoba auditor general. This year’s results show a summary deficit of $452 million, $70 million lower than the summary deficit for the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Minister Dewar noted that a portion of the net loss is due to more than $100 million of revenue from the federal government owed to the province as a result of severe summer flooding in 2014 that could not be recorded due to a moratorium on federal funding announcements because of the Oct. 19 election. This revenue had been anticipated in the 2014-15 third Quarterly Financial Report.
“We continue to return to balance responsibly by focusing on investing in building our province and protecting front-line services,” said Minister Dewar. “The global economic recovery has taken longer than expected, but Manitoba continues to be a leader in job creation and economic growth. This growth is no accident. It is due to targeting investments in the things that grow our economy and create jobs like infrastructure, education and job training.”
Manitoba’s debt-servicing costs have been reduced to 5.7 cents on the dollar, down from 13.2 cents on the dollar in 1999. The minister also noted the province spent $31 million less than was budgeted for debt servicing and Manitoba’s debt-to-GDP ratio is the fifth lowest in Canada.
Minister Dewar noted that expenditures came in below budget in 11 of 18 departments. Despite cost pressures in health, child protection and other front-line services, these departments came in with only a modest over expenditure, he added.
The minister said that summary budget results would have shown an improvement over the forecast summary deficit in Budget 2014, if anticipated disaster financial assistance support from the federal government could have been recognized in the 2014-15 fiscal year, as anticipated in the third Quarterly Financial Report.
The first quarter financial report was also released today. Both public accounts and the first Quarterly Financial Report can be viewed at www.gov.mb.ca/finance/publications/financialreports.html.
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