The province has released its fall fiscal update, indicating that while several economic indicators are exceeding the budget forecast, the province is behind where they thought they would be in terms of the GDP and the deficit.

The deficit is now forecast at $218-million, compared to $152-million in the spring. The net-debt is also up – from $17.8-billion in the spring, to $18.3-billion now.

As finance Minister Siobhan Coady explains, that $218-million deficit is small portion of total government revenue, representing two per cent of it. As well, the change is a 0.6 per cent variance from what was in the budget.

Real GDP is expected to increase by 3.3 per cent this year, which is 1.8 per cent lower than what was anticipated.

Government says that is due to lower oil production, which is down from over 86 million barrels in the spring, to 80 million barrels, while oil prices are also down by one dollar from the budget forecast.

The total hit to the budget from the dip in oil prices and production is $239-million.

Elsewhere, government says retail sales and housing starts are outperforming budget expectations, and capital investment is up due to higher-than-expected mining and residential construction investments.