The Office of the Auditor General of Canada says the federal government wrote off $4.5 billion in COVID-19 benefit repayments that are not expected to be paid back.
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Canada’s Auditor General says the federal government wrote off $4.5 billion tied to COVID-19 benefits in the last fiscal year for repayments that are no longer expected to be recovered.
The Office of the Auditor General of Canada said Ottawa makes these write-offs when it expects people will not repay amounts previously paid during the COVID-19 pandemic, including cases where it determines someone was overpaid or ineligible for a benefit.
Audits of the government’s consolidated financial statements for the last fiscal year showed the write-off was up sharply from $26 million in the previous year.
The auditor general’s office also warned that Ottawa is expecting a larger portion of pandemic-era business loans to go unrepaid. It said the government’s allowance for potential losses on Canada Emergency Business Account loans increased to $5.6 billion in the last fiscal year, out of a total $7.2 billion in loans outstanding.
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