Saskatchewan

'It's manageable': Brad Wall aims for balanced budget in 2017-18

After unveiling a deficit budget on Wednesday, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says he believes his government can deliver a balanced budget next year.

The Saskatchewan government revealed the 2016-17 budget contains a $434 million deficit

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says his government will do "everything we can to get it back to balanced" for the 2017-18 budget. (Neil Cochrane/CBC)

After unveiling a deficit budget on Wednesday, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says he believes his government can deliver a balanced budget next year.

The 2016-17 budget contains a $434 million deficit, up from a projected $260 million in February.

"There will be deficit and I do think it's manageable, especially when you consider what's going on in some other provinces," Wall said on Wednesday. "But it's a deficit and I think we're better off always having a balanced budget or better."

Wall said the government will do "everything we can to get it back to balanced" for the 2017-18 budget.

"We're close. We're at just over $430 million on a $14 billion budget. It's manageable and we're going to do the work to get us to balance."

With this year's budget being delivered in June, the government will only have 10 months. Wall said he's already asked ministers to find more savings.

"We've already spent two months of the 12 worth of the budget and so it will be even harder," he said.

"In the next year we're forecasting zero per cent increase in expenditures. So this year was a small two per cent increase, and it presented challenges. Next year, we're talking about less than that. So we're going to have to reach out with all the stakeholders as a part of this transformational change exercise and internally look at our own budgeting and find more savings."