Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The interim appropriation is required to provide the government with the authority to make expenditures until the 2000-2001 Main Estimates are approved, which we expect will be by early July. We have instructed departments to prepare interim appropriations which reflect their expenditure needs for the first four months of the fiscal year. This gives us some flexibility and timing for final approval of the estimates. Departments were instructed to calculate their interim appropriation requirements based on:
- the amount of compensation and benefits for staff for the four month period;
- the portion of grants and contributions that must be paid during the four month period;
- any existing contractual commitments or contracts that must be initiated during the four month period;
- the full year amount of any contracts that must be committed at the beginning of the fiscal year. This is required because the Financial Administration Act prohibits a contract authority from entering into a contract if there is no appropriation; and
- capital requirements including projects of an urgent nature, projects which were begun in a previous fiscal year are projects where commitments must be made because of shipping deadlines or other circumstances.
In addition to these requirements, the Financial Management Board did approve the inclusion of some new spending needs in the interim appropriation. These new expenditures are included in each departments' interim funding request and have been reviewed by the standing committee meetings. It is also important to note that the interim appropriation ceases to have any authority as soon as the Legislative Assembly approves the final main estimates.
Mr. Chairman, in light of the government's fiscal situation, departments have developed their 2000-2001 budget proposals anticipating some reduced spending levels. For example, some capital projects which were previously scheduled for 2000-2001 have been deferred and it appears that forced growth requirements for 2000-2001 may be lower than initially projected.
As a result, our previous forecast of an operating deficit for 2000-2001 of $61 million has been reduced to a forecast $42 million deficit, a $19 million reduction to the previous projections.
This is an encouraging result. However, there are a number of factors which will affect the fiscal forecast over the next few months. The most notable factors will be a revised revenue forecast which will be available in April and the finalization of departmental forced growth needs for 2000-2001, which will be completed later this month. As a result, I will be bringing an updated fiscal forecast as part of the 2000-2001 budget that will be presented in June of this year.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my introductory comments. Thank you.