Canada's Alberta says budget deficit shrank in last quarter

CALGARY: Canada's main oil-producing province Alberta said on Tuesday the budget deficit for the three months from April 1 to June 30, 2019, was C$835 million ($629 million), compared with a deficit of C$1.2 billion for the same period a year earlier, because of lower expenses.

It was the first fiscal update released by the new United Conservative Party government, which was elected in April, and did not include an update on the full-year budget deficit.

Alberta's 2018-19 budget deficit for the financial year ending March 31 was C$6.7 billion, according to government figures released in June.