Federal surplus comes in at $10.2B

The federal government's surplus for its latest fiscal year came in around $10.2 billion, the finance department said Friday.

The government said its budgetary revenues for the year that concluded on March 31 increased by $10.6 billion, or 4.6 per cent, driven by gains in income tax revenues and other revenues.

Spending on government programs grew by $12.5 billion, or 6.8 per cent, because of higher transfer payments and operating expenses of departments and agencies.

Ottawa's public debt charges slipped by about $600 million, reflecting reductions in market debt.

The year-end surplus matched the projection given by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in his February budget.

Flaherty said at that time the government saw sharply smaller surpluses of $2.3 billion for 2008-09 and $1.3 billion the year after that.

For the month of March, the federal government ran a budgetary deficit of $1.2 billion, compared to a deficit of $2.4 billion in March 2007.

Revenues for March grew by $1 billion, or 5.2 per cent, mainly on gains in personal income tax revenues. Program spending was relatively stable, while public debt charges decreased by about $100 million.

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