Ontario raises deficit forecast, plans infrastructure bank launch

Ontario on Thursday projected a wider budget deficit for the current fiscal year than previously expected and said it would launch an infrastructure bank to fund projects in Canada's most populous province, a fiscal update showed. The province, one of the world's biggest sub-sovereign borrowers, said it expected a budget deficit of C$5.6 billion ($4.1 billion) for the 2023-24 fiscal year, compared to the C$1.3 billion deficit forecast in March's budget. "We are not immune to the risk of an economic slowdown," Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said in a statement.