EDMONTON –
Alberta Finance Minister Jason Nixon is to deliver today the final numbers on the 2021-22 budget amid higher than expected oil prices.
A livestream of the announcement, which is scheduled to begin at 10 am MT, will be available HERE.
The budget, which ended on March 31, was last forecast to come in at a $3.2 billion deficit.
However, Alberta benefited from surging oil prices throughout the earlier part of the year and predicts a $511-million surplus for the current 2022-23 fiscal year.
West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark price for North American oil, has softened of late but sits above US$100 a barrel.
It’s been seven years since the province’s last balanced budget and Alberta is recovering from years of multibillion-dollar deficits.
How the budget bounty is spent will be up to a new leader, as the United Conservative Party is set to pick a replacement for Premier Jason Kenney in October.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2022.