DECEMBER KEY FIGURES: ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT


In the December quarter 2018:

• Taxation revenue increased by 13.4% from $126,740m in the September quarter 2018 to $143,709m in the December quarter 2018.
• General government sector revenue exceeded expenses resulting in a GFS net operating balance of $6,144m.
• The GFS net lending(+)/borrowing(-) position for the general government sector was -$3,757m.

			Sep Qtr 2018	Dec Qtr 2018	Sep Qtr 2018 to Dec Qtr 2018
			$m	$m	% change
Current Prices
Taxation revenue
	General government		126 740	143 709	13.4
Total revenue
	General government		159 248	174 737	9.7
	Public non-financial corporations		20 966	21 605	3.0
Total expenses
	General government		166 885	168 593	1.0
	Public non-financial corporations		21 580	22 892	6.1
GFS Net operating balance
	General government		–7 638	6 144	. .
	Public non-financial corporations		–614	–1 287	. .
GFS Net lending(+)/borrowing(-)
	General government		–13 184	–3 757	. .
	Public non-financial corporations		–2 749	–4 142	. .

. . not applicable



QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS PUBLIC SECTOR MEASURES - KEY FIGURES

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for the December quarter 2018 which will be included in the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0). The key figures shown include Government Final Consumption Expenditure for general government and Gross Fixed Capital Formation for general government and public corporations, seasonally adjusted in current prices and chain volume terms.

In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms in the December quarter 2018:

• Total general government final consumption expenditure increased by $1,596m, a rise of 1.8% compared with the September quarter 2018, which is expected to add 0.3 percentage points to growth in the December quarter 2018 volume measure of GDP.
• Total general government gross fixed capital formation increased by $467m, a rise of 2.7% compared with the September quarter 2018.
• Total public corporations gross fixed capital formation decreased by $397m, a fall of 6.7% compared with the September quarter 2018.
• Total public gross fixed capital formation increased by $70m, a rise of 0.3% compared with the September quarter 2018, and will not contribute to growth in the December quarter 2018 volume measure of GDP.

			Mar Qtr 2018	Jun Qtr 2018	Sep Qtr 2018	Dec Qtr 2018	Sep Qtr 2018 to Dec Qtr 2018
			$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
Current Prices
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National - defence		7 698	7 718	8 141	8 003	–1.7
	National - non-defence		27 322	28 147	28 811	29 954	4.0
	Total national		35 019	35 865	36 951	37 957	2.7
	State and local		52 212	52 288	52 660	53 361	1.3
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		87 232	88 153	89 611	91 318	1.9
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National - defence	2 275	2 498	2 896	2 619	–9.6
		National - non-defence	2 322	2 215	2 398	2 424	1.1
		Total national	4 597	4 714	5 294	5 043	–4.7
		State and local	11 518	12 123	12 754	13 664	7.1
		Total general government	16 114	16 837	18 049	18 707	3.6
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2 070	2 028	2 061	1 971	–4.4
		State and local	4 032	3 750	4 070	3 803	–6.6
		Total public corporations	6 102	5 778	6 131	5 774	–5.8
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		22 216	22 615	24 180	24 481	1.2
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second-hand assets by public sector		418	713	474	359	np
Chain Volume (b)
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National - defence		7 590	7 612	7 992	7 840	–1.9
	National - non-defence		27 495	28 251	29 036	30 242	4.2
	Total national		35 084	35 863	37 028	38 083	2.8
	State and local		50 771	50 832	50 667	51 207	1.1
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		85 855	86 695	87 694	89 290	1.8
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National - defence	2 351	2 536	2 863	2 548	–11.0
		National - non-defence	2 311	2 190	2 374	2 392	0.8
		Total national	4 662	4 726	5 237	4 940	–5.7
		State and local	11 194	11 609	12 110	12 874	6.3
		Total general government	15 856	16 335	17 347	17 814	2.7
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2 055	1 983	2 011	1 908	–5.2
		State and local	3 986	3 651	3 946	3 653	–7.4
		Total public corporations	6 041	5 634	5 957	5 560	–6.7
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		21 897	21 968	23 304	23 374	0.3
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second-hand assets by public sector		407	689	453	342	np

np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) See paragraph 35 of the Explanatory Notes for the relationship between general government final consumption expenditure and GFS aggregates.
(b) Reference year for chain volume measures is 2016-17.


DECEMBER QUARTER 2018 GFS RELEASE

This release presents quarterly government finance statistics on an accrual accounting basis. All tables presented are for the general government sector, with the exception of Table 2 which presents data for the public non-financial corporations sector.

Detailed quarterly GFS are released for the current financial year only, other than in the September quarter, when the quarters of the previous financial year are presented. Users requiring data for earlier periods should consult the annual publication Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0). The latest issue (2016-17) was released on 26 April 2018.

Table	Sep 18	Dec 18
Table 1 All Levels of Government, Operating Statement - General Government	*	*
Table 2 All Levels of Government, Operating Statement - Public Non-Financial Corporations	*	*
Table 3 Commonwealth Government, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 4 Total State & Local, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 5 New South Wales, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 6 Victoria, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 7 Queensland, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 8 South Australia, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 9 Western Australia, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 10 Tasmania, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 11 Northern Territory, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 12 Australian Capital Territory, Operating Statement	*	*
Table 13 Commonwealth Government, Balance Sheet	*	*
Table 14 Total State Government, Balance Sheet	*	*

Government Finance Statistics are part of the broader suite of macroeconomic accounts produced by the ABS. They share their basic concepts with the National Accounts and Balance of Payments. The conceptual framework is agreed internationally and published by the International Monetary Fund. Macroeconomic statistics are compiled to enable macroeconomic analysis and the standards may differ from accounting standards in some regards.


CHANGES TO GOVERNMENT FINANCE STATISTICS

Australia's system for producing GFS has been updated as a result of revised international standards for compiling national accounts (2008 SNA) and the consequent revision of the International Monetary Fund's GFS Manual 2014 (IMF GFSM 2014). An updated ABS GFS Manual was released on 23 December 2015 to reflect the AGFS15 changes and can be found in Australian System of Government Finance Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2015 (cat. no. 5514.0). AGFS15 is effective for all GFS data that is reported for all periods from 1 July 2017 onwards, beginning with the September quarter 2017 publication.

A range of conceptual changes under AGFS15 are outlined in the updated ABS GFS Manual. Details of the changes that impact quarterly GFS data were covered in an earlier Information Paper: Forthcoming Changes to the Quarterly Publication for Government Finance Statistics (cat. no. 5519.0.55.002). Details of the changes that impact annual GFS data are covered in a recent Information Paper: Forthcoming Changes to the Annual Publication for Government Finance Statistics (cat. no. 5512.0.55.001).

As part of these changes the ABS is currently considering options for the implementation of the creditor approach to interest expenses. Experimental estimates for key aggregate sectors are included in the interim as a memorandum item in the publication spreadsheet so that users are aware of the potential impact on GFS outputs. These experimental estimates are sourced from the General Government Income Accounts that are produced as part of the quarterly Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0). The Income Accounts present Other interest as an output category within Property income payable, which is broadly comparable to the Other interest expenses output category within GFS Expenses.


PUBLICATION OF CURRENT QUARTER DATA BY JURISDICTION

The GFS quarterly publication has historically published data for individual state and local jurisdictions with a one quarter lag before publishing. The ABS has worked closely with data providers to improve the quality of initial GFS estimates and has begun publishing current quarter data for individual state and local jurisdictions beginning with the September quarter 2018 publication. This initiative supports the timely analysis of GFS data for fiscal and macroeconomic purposes at the jurisdiction level.


CHANGE OF SECTOR DURING CONSTRUCTION

GFS includes estimates of public gross fixed capital formation for general government and public corporations. Users should be aware that there are occasions where a capital project may change ownership during the construction phase from the public to private sector. On these occasions the new capital expenditure associated with such a project will move sector effective from the time of the ownership change. The public corporations series is being impacted on by a sectoral change in the current quarter.


TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO VISA APPLICATION CHARGES

In December 2015, the Commonwealth Government released the 2015-16 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) which included a reclassification of visa application charges (VAC). In MYEFO these charges are now treated as taxation revenue rather than sales of goods and services. This reclassification has been applied to the Government Finance Statistics (GFS), with no impact on total GFS revenue or the GFS net operating balance. The National Accounts statistics will maintain coherence with previously published data and classify this transaction as sales of goods and services. These treatments will remain in place until a review of the treatment of VAC across macroeconomic statistics has been completed.


FORTHCOMING ISSUES

The release of GFS quarterly data is usually coordinated to be the day before the respective issue of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0). The scheduled release dates for the next two issues are:

Issue	5519.0.55.001	5206.0
March 2019	4 June 2019	5 June 2019
June 2019	3 September 2019	4 September 2019

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, email <client.services@abs.gov.au> or email <public.finance@abs.gov.au>. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.