OTTAWA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Canada recorded a higher C$11.07 billion ($7.89 billion) budget deficit for the first five months of the 2025/26 fiscal year as government expenditures grew faster than revenues, the finance ministry said on Friday.
By comparison, the deficit in the same period a year earlier had been C$9.84 billion, it said in a statement.
Program expenses rose 4.1% on increases across all major categories of spending. Public debt charges fell by 0.8% largely because of lower interest rates on treasury bills, the ministry said.
Year-to-date revenues grew by 2.5%, largely reflecting higher custom import duties due to retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. and corporate and personal income tax revenue.
Custom import duties increased by 156.9% in the April to August period to C$5.79 billion.
On a monthly basis, Canada posted a deficit of C$3.28 billion in August, compared to a C$2.55 billion deficit in August 2024.
($1 = 1.4024 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, editing by Fergal Smith)
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Keywords: CANADA BUDGET/
