Ottawa posts $1.9B surplus for fiscal 2014-2015

The federal government posted a surplus of $1.9 billion for the 2014-2015 fiscal year, according tofinal numbers from Ottawa released today.

The Department of Finance said the figure is a reversal of a $5.2 billion-deficit posted for the previous fiscal year.

In its recent budget, Ottawa was forecasting a deficit of $2 billion for 2014-2015. The surplus brings an end to a six-year streak of deficits, which began inthe fiscal year that ended in April 2009.

The excess financial wiggle room inched Canada's debt-to-gross domestic productratio down to31per cent for the year, from 32.3 per cent the year before.

But that figure doesn't include debts owed by various local, provincial and territorial governments across Canada. Includingthose figures, Canada's debt-to-GDP ratiorises to40.4 per cent, which isstill the lowest among G7 nations.

According theOECD, the average debt-to-GDP ratio for all G7 countries, when all forms of government debt are included, will be86.8 per cent for the2014-2015 fiscal period.

Ottawa's spending increased during the year, coming in at$280.4 billion for the year endedApril 1. But that was more than offset by a corresponding increase in revenues, which came in at$282.3 billion, an increaseof $10.7 billion or3.9 per cent.

Program spending was $800 million lower than forecast, while public debt charges were $100 million lower than expected.