Government Finance Statistics, Australia

In the June quarter 2019:

• taxation revenue increased 13.1% to $153,801m
• revenue exceeded expenses resulting in a net operating balance of $15,959m
• the GFS net lending(+)/borrowing(-) position was $1,318m.
   

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for the June 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 total general government and Gross Fixed Capital Formation for total general government and total public corporations, seasonally adjusted in current prices and chain volume terms.

In seasonally adjusted chain volume terms compared with the previous quarter:

• general government final consumption expenditure increased by $2,365m or 2.7%, and is expected to positively contribute 0.5 percentage points to growth in the June quarter 2019 volume measure of GDP
• general government gross fixed capital formation decreased by $470m or 2.7%
• public corporations gross fixed capital formation decreased by $70m or 1.3%
• public gross fixed capital formation decreased by $541m or 2.3%, and is expected to detract -0.1 percentage points from growth in the June quarter 2019 volume measure of GDP.
   

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.

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.

The upcoming September quarter release will contain the following updates:

1. Balance sheet table format will be updated to match that presented in the latest annual release. See downloadable annual tables 130 and 239 in Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0).
2. The memorandum item for creditor interest presented at the foot of the operating statements for the Commonwealth (Table 3) and All State and local (Table 4) worksheets will be discontinued. Public sector creditor interest estimates will continue to be available in Australian National Accounts: Income, expenditure and product (cat no. 5206.0).
    

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.

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.

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).

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.