What to expect from Eric Girard’s economic update?

By presenting his economic update on Thursday, the Minister of Finance will want to restore the image of his government, which has been somewhat damaged over the past year, believes the director and economist at AppEco, Philippe Gougeon.

“The government will want to show that it is controlling its spending. They showed a deficit of 11 billion for the current year. They want to show that things are improving because they want to demonstrate that it is a party that calls itself a party of the economy. Public finances are part of the economy,” explained the expert, in an interview on the show The Balance SheetWednesday.

The latter considers it unlikely that Minister Eric Girard will have any positive surprises in store for Quebecers.

“Even if they want to control spending, they will want to make additional actions, at least in the short term, if not in future budgets, because they cannot stop. The needs are acute in many areas,” maintains Mr. Gougeon.

He nevertheless believes that it is possible that the government will announce measures to reduce the impacts of inflation on taxpayers, but that these would only target low-income people.

The expert recalls that the CAQ has already indicated that it is aiming to return to a balanced budget in five years. It is not impossible that such a target could be reached sooner, but we should not expect an announcement to this effect on Thursday.

“I think that if they make this announcement, it will be in the next budget. I think that for the moment, they will remain cautious,” says the economist.

To see the full interview, watch the first video above.