Alberta's third-quater fiscal report card out today
Albertans will learn more about the state of the province’s economy Thursday afternoon when Finance Minister Joe Ceci delivers his third-quarter fiscal update.
Numbers from the second quarter showed a projected deficit of $10.8 billion, which was $449 million higher than what Ceci had forecast in the April 2016 budget.
The average price of oil increased from $45.87 US a barrel in November to $52.17 in December, a possible sign the fiscal update could be more favourable than during the second quarter, when the province budgeted for oil at US $45 a barrel.
Alberta still has the highest employment rate in Canada, at 66.5 per cent, compared to the national average of 61.4 per cent, Statistics Canada numbers show. It also had the strongest population growth at 1.8 per cent, according to the 2016 census.