Figures released Tuesday by the federal finance department showed the Trudeau government ran a smaller deficit than it was expecting in the spring budget, ending its 2016-17 fiscal year with a deficit of $17.8 billion.
That compared with a $23-billion deficit that was forecast in the spring budget.
The smaller-than-expected deficit came as revenue was $1.4 billion higher than expected due to higher GST revenue and non-resident income tax.
Ottawa also says program spending proved $3.7 billion lower than forecast due to lower-than expected infrastructure transfer payments; lower-than-expected bad debt expenses; and a downward adjustment to the expenses on projects such as the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.
Compared with a year ago, government revenues were down $2.0 billion or 0.7% compared with the previous year due to a drop in personal income tax revenue, employment insurance premium revenue and other revenues, offset in part by an increase in GST revenue.
The finance department says, however, the federal debt was $631.9 billion at March 31, 2017, up from $616.0 billion a year earlier.
