Federal budget will be delivered on March 29

OTTAWA – Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will unveil the next federal budget March 29.

The budget will come out just days before the start of the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which begins April 1, Flaherty announced Wednesday.

Flaherty has already warned the budget could contain some program cost cuts as Ottawa tries to balance its books over the next few years. With the economy expected to slow to less than two per cent annual growth, tax revenues from consumers and companies could be squeezed.

Ottawa has been warning that it could try to cut spending by $4 billion a year to help get the budget balanced.

Flaherty got some good news last week when the latest monthly deficit numbers showed that his target for eliminating the deficit is getting closer. The latest accounting from the Finance Department showed the monthly deficit fell to $353 million in December, from $1.35 billion a year earlier.

The December data put Ottawa about $10 billion ahead of pace for the first nine months of the fiscal year compared to last year at the same time.

The cumulated deficit so far this year now stands at $17.7 billion, compared to $27.4 billion for the same period in 2010.

Analysts say the improved deficit picture could lead the government to balance its books earlier than expected _ perhaps as early as 2014-15, one year earlier than the current plan.

In the latest economic numbers, the third quarter produced a bigger bounceback than anticipated with a 3.5 per cent spurt. The fourth quarter now appears to be headed for a 1.5- to two per cent growth tally, twice the Bank of Canada’s earlier prediction.

The Western Canadian economy is growing faster than the national average, propped up by oil, mineral, potash and coal exports. That regional growth is helping offset weakness in Ontario’s manufacturing sector.

Some analysts expect this fiscal year’s deficit to come in as low as $26 billion _ or $5 billion below the fall update’s estimate.