JUNE KEY FIGURES: ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT


In the September quarter 2018:

• Taxation revenue decreased by 13.6% from $146,635m in the June quarter 2018 to $126,721m in the September quarter 2018.
• General government sector expenses exceeded revenue resulting in a GFS net operating balance of -$7,317m.
• The GFS net lending(+)/borrowing(-) position for the general government sector was -$12,681m.

			Jun Qtr 2018	Sep Qtr 2018	Jun Qtr 2018 to Sep Qtr 2018
			$m	$m	% change
Current Prices
Taxation revenue
	General government		146 635	126 721	–13.6
Total revenue
	General government		183 682	159 371	–13.2
	Public non-financial corporations		21 612	20 793	–3.8
Total expenses
	General government		165 624	166 688	0.6
	Public non-financial corporations		23 980	21 646	–9.7
GFS Net operating balance
	General government		18 057	–7 317	. .
	Public non-financial corporations		–2 367	–853	. .
GFS Net lending(+)/borrowing(-)
	General government		6 463	–12 681	. .
	Public non-financial corporations		–5 634	–2 937	. .

. . not applicable



QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS PUBLIC SECTOR MEASURES - KEY FIGURES

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for the September 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 September quarter 2018:

• Total general government final consumption expenditure increased by $423m, a rise of 0.5% compared with the June quarter 2018, which is expected to add 0.1 percentage points to growth in the September quarter 2018 volume measure of GDP.
• Total general government gross fixed capital formation increased by $480m, a rise of 2.9% compared with the June quarter 2018.
• Total public corporations gross fixed capital formation increased by $270m, a rise of 4.8% compared with the June quarter 2018.
• Total public gross fixed capital formation increased by $749m, a rise of 3.4% compared with the June quarter 2018, which is expected to add 0.2 percentage points to growth in the September quarter 2018 volume measure of GDP.

			Dec Qtr 2017	Mar Qtr 2018	Jun Qtr 2018	Sep Qtr 2018	Jun Qtr 2018 to Sep Qtr 2018
			$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
Current Prices
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National - defence		7 876	7 669	7 745	7 915	2.2
	National - non-defence		26 947	27 333	28 049	28 516	1.7
	Total national		34 823	35 002	35 794	36 431	1.8
	State and local		51 191	52 240	52 262	52 516	0.5
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		86 014	87 243	88 057	88 948	1.0
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National - defence	2 380	2 191	2 507	2 576	2.8
		National - non-defence	2 478	2 312	2 202	2 379	8.0
		Total national	4 858	4 503	4 709	4 955	5.2
		State and local	11 704	11 539	12 104	12 521	3.4
		Total general government	16 562	16 042	16 813	17 476	3.9
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2 229	2 068	2 031	2 073	2.1
		State and local	3 851	4 061	3 725	3 981	6.9
		Total public corporations	6 081	6 129	5 756	6 054	5.2
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		22 643	22 171	22 570	23 530	4.3
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second-hand assets by public sector		1 141	425	743	411	np
Chain Volume (b)
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National - defence		7 780	7 562	7 639	7 776	1.8
	National - non-defence		26 788	27 495	28 188	28 742	2.0
	Total national		34 569	35 058	35 827	36 518	1.9
	State and local		49 988	50 794	50 807	50 539	–0.5
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		84 557	85 852	86 634	87 057	0.5
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National - defence	2 456	2 261	2 540	2 544	0.1
		National - non-defence	2 458	2 301	2 177	2 355	8.2
		Total national	4 914	4 562	4 717	4 899	3.8
		State and local	11 506	11 218	11 594	11 892	2.6
		Total general government	16 420	15 780	16 311	16 791	2.9
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2 215	2 052	1 986	2 022	1.8
		State and local	3 808	4 009	3 621	3 855	6.5
		Total public corporations	6 023	6 061	5 607	5 877	4.8
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		22 443	21 841	21 919	22 668	3.4
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second-hand assets by public sector		1 131	414	718	392	np

np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) See paragraph 37 of the Explanatory Notes for the relationship between general government final consumption expenditure and GFS aggregates.
(b) Reference year for chain volume measures is 2014-15.


SEPTEMBER 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 17	Dec 17	Mar 18	Jun 18	Sep 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. Only a small number of these changes impact on quarterly GFS data due to the narrower scope of published quarterly outputs when compared to annual outputs. Details of the changes that impact quarterly GFS data are covered in a recent Information Paper: Forthcoming Changes to the Quarterly Publication for Government Finance Statistics (cat. no. 5519.0.55.002).

As part of these changes the ABS is currently considering options for the implementation of the creditor approach to interest expenses. Full implementation of the new approach will proceed across all sectors when high quality GFS outputs can be assessed. 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 will support the timely analysis of GFS data for fiscal and macroeconomic purposes at the jurisdiction level.


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
December 2018	5 March 2019	6 March 2019
March 2019	4 June 2019	5 June 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.