Quebec deficit shrinks to $7.2 billion, nearly half forecast

Quebec's budget deficit for the fiscal year ending March 31 came in at $7.2 billion—nearly half the amount the government projected last year.

Finance Minister Eric Girard released the preliminary results Thursday, June 12, showing a significant improvement from the $13.6-billion deficit forecast in the March 2025 budget. The figure had been revised downward to $9.9 billion in March 2026, but the actual result was substantially better.

Girard attributed the improvement to higher-than-expected revenues driven by growth in wages, household consumption, and corporate profits, as well as the government's decision not to tap its $2-billion contingency reserve. Spending also came in $2.2 billion below projections.

"We prepared a budget in an extremely difficult environment," Girard told reporters at the National Assembly, citing U.S. trade tensions and Middle East conflict as sources of uncertainty. "We continue to exercise a great deal of prudence" with the full contingency reserve remaining available for the current fiscal year.

The accounting deficit—excluding transfers to the Generations Fund—reached $4.9 billion, or 0.8% of gross domestic product, down from a projected $7.7 billion. The Finance Department noted this would be the smallest deficit in Canada.

The province's resilient domestic economy proved more durable than officials had feared when drafting last year's budget.