The Manitoba government has withdrawn $215 million from the rainy day fund to support and protect local businesses from the impacts of COVID-19, Finance Minister Scott Fielding announced today.
“Our government fully replenished the rainy day fund that had been drained by the former government, and setting aside these savings gave us flexibility in situations like this unprecedented pandemic,” said Fielding. “Our contributions to the fund put Manitoba in a much stronger position to face emergencies like COVID-19 and better protect Manitobans from its impacts.”
The government began replenishing the Fiscal Stabilization Account in 2017-18 and built it up to a balance of $800 million from $114.5 million in Budget 2020. This marks the first withdrawal of the fund and leaves the account balance at $585 million. Fielding noted the province would begin to replenish the $215 million drawn from the fund over time as the impacts of pandemic lessen.
The minister said dipping into the rainy day fund would keep the province from borrowing from the capital market and save taxpayers an estimated $45 million in interest costs over 10 years. Fielding noted it was difficult to access the lending markets in the early stages of the pandemic and could become so again in the future.
“We continue to have nearly $600 million in savings for future rainy days, which provides us with additional resiliency for potential emergencies such as floods or forest fires,” said Fielding. “Our careful budgeting has allowed us to use some of the money we set aside to cover the costs of the generous support programs we created to help local businesses through this challenging time.”
The province will use the $215 million to cover the costs of the Manitoba Bridge Grant program. Created in November 2020, the grant provides up to $15,000 in direct financial support to businesses impacted by public health restrictions.
To date, the program has provided more than $205 million in direct financial support to more than 14,000 businesses, not-for-profit organizations and charities. The deadline to apply for the Manitoba Bridge Grant is March 31 at www.gov.mb.ca/covid19/programs/bridge-grant.html