Cathy Bennett hints more years of deficit for Newfoundland and Labrador

• Newfoundland and Labrador budget to come down April 14
• N.L. hikes borrowing capacity, looks to long-term loans

In an interview with CBC's Central Morning Show last week, Bennett said the Liberals will focus on "short-term actions" for their first budget, as part of a longer plan to return to balance.

It's going to take us a series of steps to work our way out of it.- Finance Minister Cathy Bennett

The provincial government is facing a $2.4 billion deficit for 2016-17, before accounting for changes that will occur in the coming budget.

"It's going to take us a series of steps to work our way out of it and be able to present the people of a province a path back to surplus," Bennett said.

"It's no surprise that we're going to have to look at short, medium and long-term solutions to get our province back on a fiscal stable footing."

There aree some small, decisive things that will be done as part of the upcoming budget, Bennett said, but most "medium-term actions" would take place during a mid-year fiscal update.

Bennett is currently conducting a line-by-line review of departmental spending, but more questions need to be asked about what value the government is getting for their money.

Who's got the plan?

Bennett placed blame for the province's fiscal situation at the feet of previous administrations, which she said didn't properly plan for an economic decline.

"It really is a combination of the changes of oil price in the last number of months, but also because of consecutive years of deficits that have been run by the former administrations," she said.

"They didn't necessarily acknowledge the revenue challenges we were having from 2007-2008 when we hit peak oil production and peak oil price."

For his part, PC Leader Paul Davis criticised the Liberals for canceling the HST increase, which he said would have raised an extra $200 million for government.

"It appears now to everyone in the province … that the government doesn't have a plan," Davis said in the House of Assembly Wednesday.

"We heard today they're creating the plan, they're consulting with people. They don't have a plan, even though they went to the people and said they had a plan."

Increased borrowing

The Liberals tabled Bill 9 on Tuesday, which hikes the borrowing cap for the 2015 fiscal year to $2.4 billion, up from $2.0 billion.

Government is also promising a bill that will hike the borrowing cap for the next fiscal year.

Those interest payments take away from money that we're going to have to spend on services.- Finance Minister Cathy Bennett

Premier Dwight Ball told the House of Assembly Thursday government has secured $1.4 billion in long-term loans since January.

"That borrowing is going to increase our interest payments, and those interest payments take away from money that we're going to have to spend on services for the people of the province," she said.

While Bennett is preparing for the release of the provincial budget April 14, she's also reacting to the release of the federal budget release Tuesday.

She says the changes to the EI program and the waiving of tariffs on ferries are good news for the province.