Will Newfoundland and Labrador stay in the black? Provincial budget expected today

Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Finance Siobhan Coady presents the 2021 provincial budget in St.John's on Monday, May 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -

Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial budget will be presented today, following an unexpectedly rosy fiscal update last October.

The budget is expected to show a surplus of about $479 million for the current fiscal year ending March 31, which would be the province's first surplus in more than a decade.

But when Finance Minister Siobhan Coady announced the surprise surplus last October, she warned it was largely due to unexpected tax revenue and may not be repeated in today's budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

The Conference Board of Canada said last month that Newfoundland and Labrador may have the country's fastest-growing economy in 2023.

A February report from the board says that growth will be driven by Suncor's Terra Nova offshore oilfield, where production is expected to resume this spring or summer after years of delay.

As of October, the government was carrying a net debt of roughly $16 billion, which works out to nearly $30,200 per person in the province of about 531,000 people.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2023.