MARCH KEY FIGURES: ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT


In the March quarter 2019:

• Taxation revenue decreased by -5.9% from $143,804m in the December quarter 2018 to $135,359m in the March quarter 2019.
• General government sector revenue exceeded expenses resulting in a GFS net operating balance of $3,728m.
• The GFS net lending(+)/borrowing(-) position for the general government sector was -$3,029m.

			Dec Qtr 2018	Mar Qtr 2019	Dec Qtr 2018 to Mar Qtr 2019
			$m	$m	% change
Current Prices
Taxation revenue
	General government		143 804	135 359	–5.9
Total revenue
	General government		175 252	168 326	–4.0
	Public non-financial corporations		21 664	21 499	–0.8
Total expenses
	General government		168 581	164 598	–2.4
	Public non-financial corporations		23 007	22 739	–1.2
GFS Net operating balance
	General government		6 671	3 728	. .
	Public non-financial corporations		–1 343	–1 240	. .
GFS Net lending(+)/borrowing(-)
	General government		–3 213	–3 029	. .
	Public non-financial corporations		–4 155	–2 585	. .

. . not applicable



QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS PUBLIC SECTOR MEASURES - KEY FIGURES

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for the March quarter 2019 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 March quarter 2019:

• Total general government final consumption expenditure increased by $748m, a rise of 0.8% compared with the December quarter 2018, which is expected to add 0.2 percentage points to growth in the March quarter 2019 volume measure of GDP.
• Total general government gross fixed capital formation increased by $147m, a rise of 0.8% compared with the December quarter 2018.
• Total public corporations gross fixed capital formation decreased by $59m, a fall of 1.1% compared with the December quarter 2018.
• Total public gross fixed capital formation increased by $88m, a rise of 0.4% compared with the December quarter 2018, which will not contribute significantly to growth in the March quarter 2019 volume measure of GDP.

			Jun Qtr 2018	Sep Qtr 2018	Dec Qtr 2018	Mar Qtr 2019	Dec Qtr 2018 to Mar Qtr 2019
			$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
Current Prices
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National - defence		7 713	8 188	8 094	7 856	–2.9
	National - non-defence		28 058	28 809	30 086	30 425	1.1
	Total national		35 771	36 997	38 180	38 281	0.3
	State and local		52 235	52 541	53 180	53 388	0.4
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		88 006	89 538	91 360	91 668	0.3
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National - defence	2 500	2 876	2 610	2 428	–7.0
		National - non-defence	2 214	2 377	2 452	2 401	–2.1
		Total national	4 714	5 254	5 062	4 829	–4.6
		State and local	12 058	12 680	13 634	14 050	3.1
		Total general government	16 771	17 934	18 696	18 879	1.0
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2 032	2 059	1 991	2 079	4.4
		State and local	3 688	3 977	3 698	3 588	–3.0
		Total public corporations	5 720	6 036	5 689	5 667	–0.4
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		22 492	23 970	24 385	24 546	0.7
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second-hand assets by public sector		698	480	420	407	np
Chain Volume (b)
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National - defence		7 609	8 041	7 932	7 735	–2.5
	National - non-defence		28 184	29 021	30 417	31 142	2.4
	Total national		35 793	37 061	38 349	38 877	1.4
	State and local		50 781	50 551	51 046	51 265	0.4
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		86 574	87 613	89 394	90 142	0.8
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National - defence	2 537	2 843	2 538	2 347	–7.5
		National - non-defence	2 188	2 353	2 419	2 374	–1.9
		Total national	4 725	5 196	4 956	4 721	–4.8
		State and local	11 533	12 026	12 829	13 212	3.0
		Total general government	16 258	17 222	17 785	17 932	0.8
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	1 988	2 009	1 928	2 000	3.7
		State and local	3 593	3 859	3 555	3 424	–3.7
		Total public corporations	5 581	5 869	5 483	5 424	–1.1
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		21 840	23 091	23 268	23 356	0.4
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second-hand assets by public sector		675	458	399	386	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.


MARCH QUARTER 2019 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 (2017-18) was released on 29 April 2019.

Table	Sep 18	Dec 18	Mar 19
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.


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
June 2019	3 September 2019	4 September 2019
September 2019	3 December 2019	4 December 2019

INQUIRIES

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