Is the difference between your total monthly income and total monthly expenses a positive or a negative figure? If it is positive, you have a surplus. If it is negative, you have a deficit.
Definitions
Surplus: the amount by which your income is greater than your spending
Deficit:the amount by which your spending is greater than your income
If you have a surplus, congratulations! Here are some ideas for what you can do with the extra money:
pay down debt (especially high-interest debt, like credit card debt)
boost your emergency fund
increase your monthly savings amount
invest some of the surplus to pay for future expenses like your children's education or your retirement.
If you have a deficit, you need to make changes to balance your budget and get back to the plus side. You can:
take a look at your discretionary spending and cut back
reduce expenses by negotiating better plans for your communications, banking and other services—contact your service providers to see if you can get better rates
increase your income, possibly by getting a different job or an additional job.
The federal government largely maintained the medium-term deficit profile it set out in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement (FES). Thanks in part to a late-year upswing in economic growth, the deficit for FY 2023-24 came in at the $40 billion target, equivalent to 1.4% of GDP.
OTTAWA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Canada recorded a sharply higher C$23.61 billion ($17.51 billion) budget deficit for the first nine months of the 2023/24 fiscal year as government expenditures grew faster than revenues, the finance ministry said on Friday.
According to the budget, the federal deficit is projected to be $39.8 billion in 2024-25, $38.9 billion in 2025-26, and declining over the three years following, to $20 billion by 2028-29.
On a monthly basis, Canada posted a surplus of C$3.35 billion in May, compared to the C$2.66 billion surplus recorded in May 2022. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day.
By far, Canadian institutional investors hold most of Canada's debt. That includes insurance companies, banks, private pension funds, and government pension funds (including the Canada Pension Plan). Even the Bank of Canada holds Canadian debt. Together, they hold 76% of Canada's debt.
Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio among the provinces at 41.6 per cent in 2023/24, while Alberta recorded the most substantial increase in its debt-to-GDP ratio between 2007/08 (-13.4 per cent) and 2023/24 (9.0 per cent)—a hike of 22.4 percentage points.
Adjusted for current inflation, Canada's total provincial and federal debt increased from $1.1 trillion to $2.1 trillion between 2007-2008 and 2022-2023, according to a study by the right-wing think tank Fraser Institute(opens in a new tab).
Clearly, the Trudeau government has failed to keep its balanced budget promise. Here's why. From 2014/15 to 2023/24, the government increased annual program spending (which excludes debt interest costs) by $193.6 billion or 75.5 per cent, mainly by borrowing. This imposes significant costs on Canadians.
Switzerland is a country that, in practically all economic and social metrics, is an example to follow. With a population of almost 9 million people, Switzerland has no natural resources of its own, no access to the sea, and virtually no public debt.
The federal debt has doubled from $619.3 billion in 2015-16, the first year of Trudeau's government, to $1.2 trillion last year. It's expected to climb to $1.4 trillion by 2028-29.
It can be thought of as the country's net income. If it is positive (a surplus) that indicates it exports more it important. A negative (deficit) current account indicates that the country imports more than it exports.
The federal government ran a deficit of $236 billion in March 2024 — $142 billion less than the deficit of $378 billion that was recorded in March 2023. It is important to note that certain payments were shifted into March 2023 due to April 1, 2023, falling on a weekend.
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