The B.C. government plans to cut spending to balance the 2013-14 budget and keep the 2012-13 budget deficit to $1.14 billion, Finance Minister Mike de Jong said September 13.
Cuts are to include a government hiring freeze, a wage freeze for public-sector managers and cuts to government travel budgets.
The 2012-13 deficit is now $173 million more than what was earlier budgeted. Natural resource revenue is down by $1.4 billion over the three-year fiscal plan compared to the Budget 2012 forecast, de Jong said. The lion’s share of that, $1.1 billion, is the result of declining natural gas prices.
Victoria will need to find $241 million in savings in 2012-13, $389 million in savings in 2013-14 and $483 million in savings in 2014-15 to mitigate the impact of the hit to resource royalty revenues, he added.
“We are committed to delivering a balanced budget,” de Jong said. “That’s why we are taking additional steps to exercise greater fiscal restraint. This government respects taxpayers and we will not spend more of their money than we receive. We are looking for savings inside government, while protecting the programs and services B.C. families rely on.”
De Jong now forecasts that B.C.’s real GDP will grow by 2% in 2012, 1.8% in 2013, and about 2.4% annually in following years. This conservative forecast expects continued weakness in Europe, a slow U.S. recovery and the potential for slowing demand from Asia.
