'Deeply impacted us': REAL CEO says COVID-19 main reason for current deficit, financial challenges
CTV
The COVID-19 pandemic and an end to support funding in 2022 along with the lack of being able to host major events are contributing factors to the financial challenges Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) is facing, the organization’s president and CEO said.
The COVID-19 pandemic and an end to support funding in 2022 along with the lack of being able to host major events are contributing factors to the financial challenges Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) is facing, the organization’s president and CEO said.
On Monday, a City of Regina document showed that REAL may have a negative cash flow of $6.9 million by September and that its current approved line of credit would be maxed out.
City administration is asking council to approve an additional $3.4 million of debt for REAL to help the organization make its obligatory payments for the rest of the year.
In an interview with CTV News, REAL president and CEO Tim Reid said since the onset of the pandemic they have been forced to run a deficit.
“Over the course of the last few years, really the last three related to COVID-19, we found ourselves forced to run a deficit for the first time in a long time.”
According to Reid, not being able to host events and the end of various funding programs created financial challenges REAL is still trying to recover from.
“That deficit, really in the first two years, was offset by the ability to receive funding that includes government grant funding. However, in 2022 we were not eligible for those funds and the lack of ability to host major events and really be fully operational and our inability to find funding alternatives resulted in a deficit,” Reid said.
