Alberta ended the current 2024-2025 fiscal year with an $8.3-billion surplus, a nearly $8-billion increase from the $367 million projected in last year’s budget, marking Alberta’s fourth consecutive surplus.
The surplus was fuelled by corporate and personal tax receipts, along with a narrowing gap in price between Alberta’s crude oil and US oil.
Alberta collected $82.5 billion in total revenue in 2024–2025.
A significant portion of that increase came from resource revenue, which topped projections by $4.7 billion.
The government cited record-high oil production and the start of operations on the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX) expansion in May 2024 as a key driver.
The TMX expansion provided greater market access to Alberta oil producers via the Pacific Coast.
The expanded access improved the market value of Western Canadian Select (WCS) crude by narrowing the price differential with West Texas Intermediate (WTI).
The price of WTI averaged US$74.34 per barrel during the fiscal year, but the reduced WCS discount meant Alberta crude fetched higher prices overall, boosting revenues.
Recently, WTI has fluctuated between US$61 and US$74 per barrel and closed at US$65 on Thursday.
Alberta’s population grew by 4.4 per cent in 2024, adding 200,000 new residents, and soaring past five million earlier this year.
During this period of population growth, corporate and personal income tax receipts combined for more than $24 billion.
Total expenses reached $74.1 billion, with healthcare totalling $25.7 billion, and K-12 public education coming in at $9.3 billion.
Debt servicing costs were $3.2 billion, $175 million under budget. Alberta’s total debt rose to $102.5 billion.
A fiscal update on the current 2025–2026 year is expected later this summer.
Budget 2025, tabled in February, forecasted a return to deficit with a projected shortfall of $5.2 billion.