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Ottawa posts $2.4B surplus for December

Ottawa posted a surplus of nearly $2.43 billion in December compared with a surplus of $1.20 billion in December 2013.
Ottawa posted a surplus of nearly $2.43 billion in December compared with a surplus of $1.20 billion in December 2013. Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The federal government grew its surplus for December, compared with a year ago, as revenues increased and spending fell.

Ottawa posted a surplus of nearly $2.43 billion in December compared with a surplus of $1.20 billion in December 2013, according to the Finance Department’s monthly fiscal monitor.

READ MORE: Ottawa projects $1.9B surplus for 2015

Revenue for the month totalled $24.8 billion, up $1 billion from a year ago, helped by higher corporate tax revenue and a $900-million gain related to the transfer to Ontario of the province’s portion of the government’s holdings of General Motors shares.

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The Ontario government sold its remaining interest in GM earlier this year to help fund infrastructure spending.

Meanwhile, federal spending for December totalled $20.2 billion, down about $200 million from a year ago. Public debt charges amounted to $2.19 billion compared with $2.16 billion the previous year.

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For the first nine months of Ottawa’s fiscal year, the government had a deficit of $902 million compared with a deficit of $12.18 billion for the same period a year earlier. government grew its surplus for December, compared with a year ago, as revenues increased and spending fell.

Ottawa posted a surplus of nearly $2.43 billion in December compared with a surplus of $1.20 billion in December 2013, according to the Finance Department’s monthly fiscal monitor.

Revenue for the month totalled $24.8 billion, up $1 billion from a year ago, helped by higher corporate tax revenue and a $900-million gain related to the transfer to Ontario of the province’s portion of the government’s holdings of General Motors shares.

The Ontario government sold its remaining interest in GM earlier this year to help fund infrastructure spending.

Meanwhile, federal spending for December totalled $20.2 billion, down about $200 million from a year ago. Public debt charges amounted to $2.19 billion compared with $2.16 billion the previous year.

For the first nine months of Ottawa’s fiscal year, the government had a deficit of $902 million compared with a deficit of $12.18 billion for the same period a year earlier.

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