Canadian public debt

rdf:langString Canadian public debt

rdf:langString Canadian public debt, or general government debt, is the liabilities of the government sector. Government gross debt consists of liabilities that are a financial claim that requires payment of interest and/or principal in future. They consist mainly of Treasury bonds, but also include public service employee pension liabilities. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits (where a deficit occurs when government expenditures exceed revenues). For 2021 (the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022), the market value of gross debt was $2,942 billion ($76,135 per capita) for the consolidated Canadian general government – federal, plus provincial, territorial and local governments (PTLGs) combined. As a ratio of GDP, gross debt was 117.2% (GDP was $2,510 billion in 2021), down from 130.0% in 2020, the highest level ever recorded, but significantly above the pre-pandemic level (105.6% in 2019). The sustainability of government debt depends on sound fiscal management by the provincial, territorial and local governments (PTLGs), given that Canada is one of the world's most decentralized federations. Approximately half of Canadian general government gross debt in 2021 was debt of the federal (central) government ($1,570 billion or 62.5% of GDP), and half was debt of the PTLGs. Public debt is sustainable when it "does not grow continuously as a share of the economy". While the federal government's fiscal strategy was assessed as sustainable over the long-term, this was not the case for the subnational sector as a whole, according to a 2022 Parliamentary Budget Officer report. General government net debt, or gross debt minus financial assets, reached $1,453 billion or 57.9% as a share of GDP in the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022. This is down from 70.7% the year previously. Federal government net debt, at $910 billion, or 36.3% of GDP, was above the pre-pandemic level, but was down from 42.7% of GDP in the previous year. As of March 2022, Canada's DBRS AAA federal credit rating was maintained.