The federal government ran a deficit of $148.6 billion during the first four months of its 2020-2021 fiscal year, the result of unprecedented spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The result compared with a deficit of $1.6 billion for the same period in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. In its monthly fiscal monitor, the Finance Department says program expenses for the four-month period of April to July hit $215.7 billion, up $111.1 billion, or 106.2 per cent, from the same period a year earlier.

Major transfers to persons which consists this fiscal year of seniors benefits, employment insurance payments, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, and children's benefits increased by 170.8 per cent year-over-year, hitting almost $87.3 billion.

About $50.4 billion of the overall increase of $55.1 billion from the same period the year before was related to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which starts to expire this weekend.

Also adding to spending costs was the government's wage subsidy program, which the fiscal monitor says cost almost $30.6 billion over four months.