BUDGET 2021: LOOKS A LOT LIKE JIGGERY POKERY

If you hoped for something more than rhetoric from Premier Furey’s ebullient Minister of Finance or a definitive response to the debt crisis of the Province, you won’t find it in the 2021-22 Budget.

Furey likely didn’t need much reason to delay fiscal repair, but he found it (ostensibly) in a rebound in revenues; from a one-time cash payment of $325 million from the federal government to aid the oil industry, other federal-provincial cost-sharing agreements, and higher oil revenues ($1.1 billion up from $567 million).

The Government boasts revenue projections for 2021-22 of $8.5 billion, an increase of $1.4 billion over 2020-21. The figure contrasts with revenues projected on a “cash” basis of only $6.48 billion. That is a big difference based solely on accounting methodology.

Frankly, the Government’s “accrual” figures look a lot like jiggery pokery! 

THIS FINANCE MINISTER DOES NOT UNDERSTAND "CAN'T AFFORD" EITHER

Another big deficit Budget and a Total Public Debt of $29 billion means simply that a grim reality show, "Death By A Thousand Cuts", has been given a new chapter; this one is written by Finance Minister, Siobhan Coady. Like her predecessors, she does not understand the concept of "can't afford". We are, therefore, brought a step closer to the opening act of a "Play" that will open soon in every neighborhood in this province.

The essence of the annual Budget ritual is captured in Statement I of the 2020-21 Estimates. The Government is spending $7.65 billion against only $5.43 billion revenue.

The math confirms a cash deficit of $2.2 billion (which includes $332 million of capital works).

Forecast revenue is down by approximately $0.5 billion, reflecting 44.6% lower oil royalties than received last year, exposing a severely impacted domestic oil industry.