Part D - The scope of the GFS

Government activities covered by the GFS system include not only the functions of government departments and authorities that are financed primarily from taxation (classified as general government units and described as ‘non-market’ units in the IMF GFSM 2014), but also the operations of government controlled corporations and authorities (described as ‘market’ units in the IMF GFSM 2014). Distinctions are made in the statistics between the operations of such market-oriented units controlled by governments and all other government units. Market-oriented units are further sub-divided between those with primarily financial functions, such as government controlled banks and insurance companies (public financial corporations), and other market units such as government controlled utilities (referred to as public nonfinancial corporations). All three levels of government (national, state / territory, and local) are covered by the statistics and separate data are compiled for each level of government and for each jurisdiction (i.e. the Commonwealth, each state and territory and the control not further defined sector which includes public universities).