Finance Minister Mike de Jong says the high cost of fighting forest fires and floods this year has cut into B.C.'s budget, but the province is still posting a surplus.
First quarterly results show the budget for 2014-2015 is forecast to have a $266 million surplus, up $82 million from what was predicted in the budget last February.
De Jong says revenues were up by $515 million, but that was partly offset by $433 million in expenses, mostly spent on fighting wildfires and for flood-related emergency programs.
The cost of fighting wildfires this year is expected to hit $350 million.
De Jong says the government has also moved to lower taxpayer-supported debt by $785 million, helping the province maintain its AAA credit rating.
Despite B.C.'s increased surplus forecast, the finance minister says he's slightly downgrading the forecast for economic growth this year to 1.9 per cent, from two per cent.
