October 4, 2019
Province Welcomes S&P Report Changing Manitoba Outlook to Positive
S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has revised its outlook for the province of Manitoba to positive from stable and recognized the government’s solid budgetary performance, Premier Brian Pallister said today.
“Manitobans have entrusted our government to return the budget to balance and since 2016, we have taken a careful and disciplined approach to controlling expenditures while protecting and investing in frontline services,” said Pallister. “This news is testament to our extraordinary efforts to fix the province’s finances while lowering taxes to make life more affordable for Manitobans.”
S&P’s report notes the Manitoba government has delivered better-than-expected financial results in fiscal 2019 and is expected to keep progressing toward fiscal balance.
The premier noted this past year, the government has made unprecedented progress reducing the province’s deficit to move towards balancing the budget. The 2018-19 year-end financial results show a deficit of $163 million, which is $358 million lower than the budgeted deficit of $521 million. This is the largest ever year-over-year reduction to the deficit in Manitoba history, he said.
“While we have made significant progress over the past four years, there is still important work that remains to be done to correct the course and return the budget to balance,” said Pallister.
The S&P report states the primary constraint on Manitoba’s credit profile continues to be its debt burden, which remains the highest of any Canadian province.
Finance Minister Scott Fielding noted debt-servicing costs continue to be a concern in the government’s pursuit of financial recovery. The year-end results for 2018-19 show for the first time in Manitoba’s history, $1 billon has been spent to service the province’s debt – costs equivalent to the fourth-largest department of government. These costs are a direct result of increased debt and three consecutive credit rating downgrades due to 17 years of fiscal mismanagement by the former government, he said.
“Taxpayer dollars spent servicing debt is money that cannot be invested in priority areas like in health care, education, social services and infrastructure,” said Fielding. “We continue to take action to reduce the deficit in a measured and responsible way because we know fiscal sustainability is essential to protecting the services Manitobans value and rely on – and making life more affordable in our province.”
View the S&P report at www.standardandpoors.com/en_US/web/guest/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/2313294.
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