Sask. government to provide mid-year financial report Friday

Saskatchewan's mid-year report, a snapshot of the province's current financial situation, is set to be released Friday.

Earlier this year Finance Minister Donna Harpauer announced a "pandemic deficit" and forecasted a $2.4 billion deficit for 2020 - 2021.

The province released its full budget in June, nearly three full months after it was originally expected.

In March, Harpauer announced the government's spending plan, but held off on revenue projections because of oil price collapses and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At that time, the province projected $14.15 billion in expenses, with an additional $1.3 billion in expenses from across other government entities, for a total of $15.5 billion. Harpauer said then that the province had projected a surplus for 2019-20 and 2020-21, but that was thrown into turmoil by the global economic situation.

In March she said the budget included more than $1 billion in pandemic support measures for people, businesses and initiatives to help the economy recover.

The province projected $13.6 billion in revenue in March, down 8.3 per cent from last year, while expenses were projected to be $16.1 billion, an increase of 7.2 per cent over last year's budget.

The government is expected to release the mid-year report at 10:00 a.m. CST Friday.