FREDERICTON — New Brunswick's finance minister says the province's deficit is at least $50 million more than last projected.

Blaine Higgs tells The Canadian Press that a fiscal update to be released next Friday will show that the projected deficit for 2010-2011 exceeds $800 million.

In their last budget, the previous Liberal government forecast a deficit of $749 million.

Higgs says all measures to improve the province's fiscal situation will be examined during public budget consultations, but raising taxes should be the last possible option.

He reiterated the Tory party's promise not to increase the harmonized sales tax.

All government departments have been ordered to cut spending by one per cent this year, and two per cent in each of the following three years.

But Higgs says that won't be enough to balance the books.

He says some large capital projects such as the proposed $20-million highway expansion between Saint John and the Kennebecasis Valley could be scaled back when he releases a capital budget next month.