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The Nova Scotia government says it closed the 2016-17 fiscal year with a surplus of $149.6 million.

The figure is $22.2 million higher than forecast in the April 2016 budget and about $110 million higher than stated when this year's budget was tabled in April.

The Finance Department says total revenues were up $62.3 million to $11.23 billion mainly due to higher than expected provincial recoveries from external sources such as cost-shared federal programs and net income from government business enterprises.

The increase in revenue was partially offset by lower than expected tax revenue.

Total expenses were also up $40.2 million to $11.08 billion mainly due to university funding and costs for flooding last fall and winter snowstorms.

The province's net debt also decreased by $121 million to $14.95 billion.