OTTAWA — The federal deficit is expected to ring in at $5.2 billion this fiscal year, far below earlier projections that put it at $16.6 billion.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement in Brampton, Ont., Thursday, where he explained the news meant the country was still "on track" to balance the budget next fiscal year.

"It means a couple things. It obviously means we are clearly returning to a balanced position," he said. "Some of the improvement here, a significant part of it, is due to one-time factors, so you won't see all of this projected forward into the future because some of it clearly will be and so, as I say, our certainty that we'll move to surplus in 2015 will continue to be the case."

Harper was emphatic the government has "no plan or no intention" to rush in a surplus this fiscal year.

"We continue to intend to run a small deficit this year before returning to surplus," he said. "We also intend, however, to move quickly to implement promises that we made to Canadians during the last election campaign."

Explaining why the deficit is now expected to be so much smaller than anticipated, Harper assured the feat wasn't accomplished through reducing provincial transfers, health or education funds, nor those to pensioners or other citizens.

He said it was achieved, rather, through cutting tax rates and controlled spending.

Speaking to caucus prior to this fall's session in the House of Commons, Harper hinted that tax cuts could be announced in a fall economic update.