Photo Credit Facebook Beckie Gyorfi

The provincial government is citing higher crop insurance payouts and a challenging farming season for deficit projections that are more than double from budget.

The Saskatchewan government’s mid-year financial report states that the province is projected to rack up a deficit of $743.5 million by the end of the year. This is an increase of $470.4 million from budget.

According to the report, very dry conditions this summer significantly impacted both yield and quality of crops, canola in particular.

From this came higher crop insurance claims, which bumped up agricultural expenses by $385 million from the 2024-25 budget.

Aside from agriculture expenses, the Protection of Persons and Property expense theme increased by $128 million. This uptick was cited to be cause by wildfire response efforts and operating pressures in correctional facilities, as many were over capacity.

The report forecasts total gross debt to come to $35.2 billion, which is a $388.5 million increase from budget.