Canada’s federal government in Ottawa has posted a budget deficit of $7.79 billion for the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Government expenditures are outpacing revenues so far in the 2025/26 fiscal period, said the finance ministry in releasing the latest budget numbers.
The deficit in the same four month stretch of 2024 totaled $7.30 billion. That means the budget deficit is 7% greater than it was a year ago.
The finance ministry said that program expenses rose 3% as all major categories of spending saw increases. Public debt charges fell a slight 0.7%, largely due to lower interest rates.
Year to date, revenues grew by 1.6%, reflecting higher custom import duties due to retaliatory tariffs that Canada has placed on the U.S. and corporate and personal income tax collections.
Custom import duties increased a whopping 162% in the April through July period to $4.66 billion, noted the finance ministry in Ottawa.
The government of Prime Minister Mark Carney is navigating steep U.S. import duties on some Canadian products such as steel and aluminum, as well as a slowing economy.
The federal government’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31.
