Helping Canadians through the Covid-19 pandemic has come at a cost.
Today the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) released its costing appraisal of Canada’s Covid-19 Economic Response Plan.
It’s predicted there will be 8.5 million recipients of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) resulting in a total cost to the country of $35.5 billion in 2020-2021.
As well, its predicted that the net cost of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) will be $76 billion in 2020/2021.
The Canada Emergency Business Account is expected to cost Canada $9.1 billion.
Its predicted the Canadian economy could shrink by 12 percent in 2020 and the deficit could top a record $252 billion.
The PBO has released 3 new Legislative Costing Notes: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, Temporary 10% Wage Subsidy and an updated CERB. https://t.co/AbIWoq1dRN#cdnecon #cdnpoli #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/EXKgdwzzGi
— PBO-DPB (@PBO_DPB) April 30, 2020