October 8, 2019
Manitoba Making Progress Fixing the Finances
– – –Ongoing Savings Bring Greater Flexibility For Investing in Services, Reducing Taxes: Fielding
Finance Minister Scott Fielding announced today that because of the Manitoba’s government’s careful and disciplined approach to controlling expenditures, the government estimates the accumulated provincial debt will be $5 billion lower by the end of this fiscal year than it would have been if the province continued down the same path of the former government.
“Manitobans have entrusted our government to return the budget to balance while making life more affordable in our province,” said Fielding. “We have taken a careful and disciplined approach to controlling expenditures while protecting and investing in front-line services. The ongoing savings we are achieving bring greater flexibility for government to invest in priority areas like in health care, education, infrastructure and lower taxes.”
Fielding noted due to the progress Manitoba has achieved, S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has revised its credit outlook for the province from stable to positive and recognized the government’s solid budgetary performance. The S&P report states the Manitoba government has delivered better-than-expected financial results in fiscal 2019 and is expected to keep progressing toward fiscal balance.
S&P’s positive outlook also notes at least a one-in-three chance it could raise Manitoba’s long-term ratings by one notch over the next 12 to 24 months if the province can achieve its targets and withstand global economic pressures.
“Should this restoration of the provincial credit rating occur, the government expects this could save Manitobans approximately $140 million of incremental borrowing costs over the next decade,” said Fielding. “While we have made significant progress over the past four years, there is still important work that remains to be done to return the budget to balance.
“We will 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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