Released on March 23, 2022
The 2022-23 Budget supports Saskatchewan's resurgent economy through an ambitious plan to increase trade, attract investment and improve competitiveness. The Ministry of Trade and Export Development is leading efforts to continue to grow the Saskatchewan economy and ensure the province is well positioned to take advantage of renewed global economic growth.
"Saskatchewan's strong economy is growing past pre-pandemic levels and continues to lead the country in key growth indicators, which shows just how strong and resilient the people and businesses are in our great province," Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said. "It's incredible to see record agricultural and merchandise exports in 2021, and we are ready to aggressively sell Saskatchewan to the world. The initiatives in this budget will support growing the economy, including increasing the value of exports and capital investment, diversifying our international markets, and increasing Indigenous participation in our economy."
International engagement is a key component in advancing the ambitious targets in Saskatchewan's Growth Plan and supporting economic recovery and growth. With the province's global network of eight International Trade and Investment Offices, the ministry is focused on strengthening international relationships, attracting investment, influencing trade policy and attracting talent. Engagement with international partners will be critical to growing the economy. Multi-year funding was approved in the 2021-22 Budget for an increase of $3.077 million to fully implement this commitment in 2022-23.
With Budget 2022-23 the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation (SIIFC) is being created, which will provide up to $75 million in loan guarantees to Indigenous communities and organizations for equity investment in resource development projects. Economic reconciliation is a key priority for the Government of Saskatchewan and the SIIFC will support Saskatchewan's Growth Plan goal to increase Indigenous participation in natural resource development projects.
In 2021-22, the province saw a period of unprecedented investment, attracting a significant number of new, major projects. The Saskatchewan Value-Added Agriculture Incentive (SVAI), originally developed in 2018-19 to incent investment in Saskatchewan's value-added agriculture sector to provide a non-refundable Corporate Income Tax credit to eligible projects, will be continued and amended to continue to attract the tremendous growth in capital investment to Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan's Growth Plan goals for a stronger Saskatchewan by 2030 include:
- Grow private capital investment in Saskatchewan to $16 billion annually.
- Increase the value of exports by 50 per cent.
- Grow the number of international markets to which Saskatchewan exports more than $1.0 billion.
- Grow Saskatchewan's agri-food exports to $20 billion.
In 2021 Saskatchewan's strong economy saw record agricultural exports valued at more than $17 billion and record merchandise exports valued at more than $37 billion.
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For more information, contact:
Robin Speer
Immigration and Career Training
Regina
Phone: 306-519-5006
Email: robin.speer@gov.sk.ca