SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – A five-year fiscal forecast for Illinois shows an unexpectedly robust rebound in post-pandemic tax revenue.

The report by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget includes a $1.7 billion revenue increase for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2022.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to use more than $1 billion to pay down back-due bills to health care providers and to re-establish the so-called Rainy Day Fund for emergencies., which was never replenished after it was drained in 2017.

But the state continues to grapple with a structural deficit, a built-in imbalance of expenditures over revenue. So deficits will return in 2023 but they’ll be smaller.