The Executive Director of the NL Employers Council is wondering whether we’ll see a provincial budget this year.

Richard Alexander says the stars appear to be aligned to delay the budgetary process.

The province planned to return to a balanced budget this year, with a deficit of $250-million.

Now, according to Alexander, we’re looking at the possibility of a $1-billion deficit. The bond rating agencies will view that negatively, meaning it could impact borrowing rates, putting even more strain on government’s limited resources.

With a Liberal Leadership underway and the Premier’s own comments indicating he expects that the new Premier will want to put their mark on the fiscal document, Alexander says that doesn’t leave a lot of time for this year’s budget.

He thinks government may pass an interim supply bill instead, pushing the budget out further and avoiding a “big discussion on government not hitting its targets.”

Budget Will be Tabled in Spring, says Premier

Meanwhile Premier Dwight Ball assures that a budget is coming down this spring, but doesn’t say when that will happen.

As in past years, the federal budget will affect the timing of the provincial budget.

Government will introduce an interim supply bill early in the new spring session which starts Monday, and Premier Ball says a significant amount of work has already been done on this year’s budget.