Federal government spending has ballooned since the onset of the pandemic, and the budget watchdog says over 35 percent of new measures are not related to the pandemic response.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) released its report on the 2022 budget on April 22, highlighting related issues for parliamentarians.
“Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has spent, or has planned to spend, $576 billion in new measures—over 35 percent, $204.5 billion, of this spending is not part of the COVID-19 Response Plan,” says the report.
The spending for the COVID-19 response plan peaked in the 2020–2021 fiscal year with $261.8 billion, and it is going down to $90.7 billion in 2021–2022 and $11.8 billion from 2022–2023 to 2026–2027.
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