Report

Economic and Fiscal Outlook – March 2025

Mar 5, 2025

This report provides a baseline projection to help parliamentarians gauge potential economic and fiscal outcomes under current policy settings.

Highlights

There is considerable uncertainty regarding breadth, depth, and duration of a potential global trade conflict. As such, this Economic and Fiscal Outlook does not include threatened U.S. tariffs and retaliatory measures from Canada and other countries. However, PBO has prepared a scenario for parliamentarians’ consideration.
PBO projects the Canadian economy to grow by 1.7 per cent in 2025, as uncertainty and slowing population growth weigh on business investment and consumer spending.
With ongoing excess supply in the economy, consumer price index (CPI) inflation is expected to remain near target. PBO anticipates the Bank of Canada will reduce its policy rate by another 25 basis points to reach its estimated neutral level of 2.75 per cent in the second quarter of 2025.
PBO projects the budgetary deficit to fall to $50.1 billion (1.6 per cent of the gross domestic product or GDP) in 2024-25 from the $61.9 billion (2.1 per cent of GDP) deficit recorded in 2023-24. Assuming no new measures are introduced, and existing temporary measures sunset as scheduled, the deficit is projected to resume its downward trajectory, falling to $24.6 billion (0.7 per cent of GDP) in 2029-30.
PBO projects the federal debt-to-GDP ratio to fall slightly from its 2023-24 level of 42.1 per cent, reaching 41.9 per cent in 2024-25 and 41.6 per cent in 2025-26. Assuming no new measures and existing temporary measures sunset as scheduled, the federal debt ratio is projected to fall to 39.2 per cent in 2029-30 but remain well above its pre-pandemic level of 31.2 per cent of GDP in 2019-20.
PBO projects the debt service ratio (that is, public debt charges relative to total revenues) will rise to 10.8 per cent in 2024-25 from 10.3 per cent in 2023-24. PBO projects the debt service ratio to increase further, reaching 11.3 per cent in 2029-30—well above its pre-pandemic record low of 7.0 per cent in 2018-19.