WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba government is closer to balancing its budget for the first time in a decade.
Final numbers for the fiscal year that ended in March show the Progressive Conservative government had a deficit of $163 million.
That is $358 million lower than first predicted in the budget, and $531 million lower than the previous year.
Finance Minister Scott Fielding says many government departments ended up under budget, and revenues from income taxes were higher than expected.
The numbers also show the government benefited from one-time revenue jumps from two Crown corporations, which sold equities in their investment portfolios.
The Tory government has promised to balance the budget by 2022 and end a string of deficits started under the former NDP government in 2009.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2019.
