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The NDP government has maxed out its credit card and been forced to apply for a higher limit, boosting the province’s borrowing to offset a 90 per cent reduction in resource revenues.

The three-year fiscal plan set out in Thursday’s provincial budget projects borrowing to nearly double by 2018-19 — hitting $57.6 billion and exceeding the self-imposed cap Rachel Notley’s government set in law last fall.

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Finance Minister Joe Ceci was forced to introduce legislation Thursday to eliminate the cap, allowing the government to continue to invest in infrastructure during the fiscal crisis without breaking its own law.

“We are in a different situation than we were six months ago,” he explained to reporters at the legislature. “Our economy has changed dramatically.”

The government had vowed it would keep borrowing below 15 per cent of GDP, but by 2018-19 debt will reach 15.5 per cent.

Just a decade ago, then-premier Ralph Klein was touting Alberta’s debt-free status.