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British Columbias Liberal government, which faces defeat in the legislature as early as Thursday, has released a fiscal update that shows a surplus far higher than what was projected just a few monthsago.

The updated numbers, which have not been audited by the provinces auditor general, are designed in part to explain why the Liberals recently presented a Throne Speech full of expensive promises that deviated widely from the partys spring election campaign. They also leave the Opposition New Democrats with a comfortable surplus to pay for its agenda while insulating the party from claims that its plan would hurt the provincesfinances.

Do we wish we knew the money was there beforehand? Yes, B.C. Premier Christy Clark told the legislature after the update was released.

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Heres what you need to you about the fiscalupdate.

The Finance Minister says the province ended the 2016/17 fiscal year with a surplus of about $2.8-billion, which is roughly 10 times what his department forecast when it released a budget in February, 2016, and almost double what it predicted when the most recent provincial budget was released this pastFebruary.

That puts it just below the 2014/2015 surplus and makes it the fourth surplus in arow.

The Liberal government says the increased revenue was primarily driven by an economy that performed better than expected, which , in turn, brought in moretaxes.

The government says the increased tax revenue was driven by GDP growth that exceeded every other jurisdiction in Canada and, again, was significantly higher than initially projected. The 2016/17 budget predicted GDP growth of 2.4 per cent in 2016, but that figure grew to 3.7 percent.

B.C.s Finance Ministry says the growth was spread across most industries, including real estate, construction and manufacturing. Housing starts in particular have remained strong in recent months despite starting 2017 significantly lower than the average for lastyear.

The Liberal government is also trumpeting its debt performance. The government says the total provincial debt increased by almost $600-million compared with the year before, though taxpayer-supported debt decreased by$1.2-billion.

The provinces debt-to-GDP ratio decreased to 15.9 per cent in 2016/17, according to the fiscal update less than the 17 per cent initially projected and lower than the previous years figure of17.4.

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What you need to know about BC's post-election fiscal update - The Globe and Mail