Government Finance Statistics, Australia

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Statistics about finances of the general government and public non-financial corporations sectors for the various levels of government in Australia

Reference period

March 2024

Released

4/06/2024

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Key statistics

In March quarter 2024:

general government net operating balance rose $1.5b to $4.2b, since December quarter 2023
taxation revenue declined -4.7% to $192.6b, since December quarter 2023
general government borrowing was $7.6b
total public demand is expected to contribute 0.2 ppt to the quarterly change in GDP

Unless indicated, all Government Finance Statistics figures presented in this publication are current prices, original series.

Included in this publication is an Insights into Government Finance Statistics, March 2024, which examines the key stories and economic narratives of the March quarter 2024 Government Finance Statistics data.

Government Finance Statistics measures

Government finance statistics fiscal measures
		Jun Qtr 2023	Sep Qtr 2023	Dec Qtr 2023	Mar Qtr 2024	Dec Qtr 2023 to Mar Qtr 2024
		$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
Taxation revenue
	General government	223,866	178,426	202,025	192,628	-4.7%
Total revenue
	General government	265,359	220,023	239,552	236,681	-1.2%
	Public non-financial corporations	27,981	27,449	26,689	28,383	6.3%
Total expenses
	General government	233,695	229,622	236,846	232,451	-1.9%
	Public non-financial corporations	27,569	27,138	27,102	28,435	4.9%
GFS Net Operating Balance
	General government	31,664	-9,598	2,706	4,230	na
	Public non-financial corporations	412	312	-413	-52	na
GFS Net Lending (+)/Borrowing (-)
	General government	8,941	-20,888	-11,782	-7,616	na
	Public non-financial corporations	-5,202	-3,617	-7,272	-4,539	na

na indicates this value not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

Net operating balance of all levels of general government
	Revenue ($b)	Expenses ($b)	Net Operating Balance ($b)
Mar-23	222.7	-216.4	6.3
Jun-23	265.4	-233.7	31.7
Sep-23	220.0	-229.6	-9.6
Dec-23	239.6	-236.8	2.7
Mar-24	236.7	-232.5	4.2

Net operating balance of all levels of general government

["","Revenue","Expenses","Net Operating Balance"]

[["Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24"],[[222.69999999999999],[265.39999999999998],[220],[239.59999999999999],[236.69999999999999]],[[-216.40000000000001],[-233.69999999999999],[-229.59999999999999],[-236.80000000000001],[-232.5]],[[6.2999999999999998],[31.699999999999999],[-9.5999999999999996],[2.7000000000000002],[4.2000000000000002]]]

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National accounts public sector measures

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for March quarter 2024 which will be included in the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product release. The key figures shown include Total Public Demand, 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.

The following are the seasonally adjusted chain volume measures based on the previous quarter (a):

public sector demand is expected to contribute 0.2 percentage points to the change in GDP in March quarter 2024
general government final consumption expenditure rose $1332m (up 1.0%) and is expected to contribute 0.2 percentage points to the change in GDP in March quarter 2024
general government gross fixed capital formation rose $12m (up 0.1%)
public corporations gross fixed capital formation fell $324m (down 3.3%)
total public gross fixed capital formation fell $310m (down 0.9%) and is expected to contribute -0.1 percentage points to the change in GDP in March quarter 2024

Contributions may not be additive due to rounding

Quarterly national accounts public sector measures, seasonally adjusted
			Jun Qtr 2023	Sep Qtr 2023	Dec Qtr 2023	Mar Qtr 2024	Dec Qtr 2023 to Mar Qtr 2024
			$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
CURRENT PRICES
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
	National-defence		11,862	12,582	12,304	12,519	1.7
	National-non-defence		53,924	55,092	57,003	58,298	2.3
	Total national		65,786	67,674	69,306	70,817	2.2
	State and local		74,132	76,073	77,680	78,675	1.3
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		139,919	143,747	146,986	149,492	1.7
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National-defence	3,188	2,995	2,921	3,338	14.2
		National-non-defence	2,667	2,852	2,889	2,836	-1.8
		Total national	5,855	5,847	5,810	6,174	6.3
		State and local	21,658	21,169	20,651	20,532	-0.6
		Total general government	27,513	27,017	26,461	26,706	0.9
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2,713	3,252	3,170	3,217	1.5
		State and local	6,418	7,055	7,516	7,228	-3.8
		Total public corporations	9,132	10,307	10,686	10,445	-2.3
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		36,645	37,324	37,147	37,150	0.0
Total public demand			176,563	181,071	184,133	186,642	1.4
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second hand assets by public sector		1,408	709	550	549	-0.3
	Public authorities changes in inventories (c)		240	-1,180	390	139	na

CHAIN VOLUME (b)
General government final consumption expenditure
	National-defence		10,980	11,497	11,086	11,122	0.3
	National-non-defence		51,350	51,612	52,777	53,513	1.4
	Total national		62,330	63,109	63,863	64,635	1.2
	State and local		69,229	70,123	70,480	71,040	0.8
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		131,558	133,232	134,343	135,675	1.0
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National-defence	2,855	2,665	2,546	2,908	14.3
		National-non-defence	2,512	2,685	2,687	2,647	-1.5
		Total national	5,368	5,349	5,233	5,555	6.2
		State and local	19,607	19,030	18,373	18,063	-1.7
		Total general government	24,974	24,379	23,606	23,618	0.1
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	2,538	3,012	2,916	2,929	0.4
		State and local	5,947	6,474	6,847	6,512	-4.9
		Total public corporations	8,484	9,486	9,764	9,440	-3.3
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		33,459	33,865	33,369	33,059	-0.9
Total public demand			165,017	167,097	167,712	168,734	0.6
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second hand assets by public sector		1,266	634	482	471	-2.2
	Public authorities changes in inventories (c)		743	-1,512	1,151	-544	na

na not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

See explanatory notes for the relationship between general government final consumption expenditure and GFS aggregates Government Finance Statistics, Australia methodology, March 2024.
Reference year for chain volume measures is 2021-22
Includes general government, public non-financial corporations and public financial corporations

Public demand contribution to GDP growth

Public demand, contribution to GDP growth (a) (b)
	Gov final consumption expenditure (ppt)	Gov gross fixed capital formation (ppt)
Mar-21	0.0	0.0
Jun-21	0.4	0.4
Sep-21	0.7	-0.1
Dec-21	0.2	0.0
Mar-22	0.5	0.1
Jun-22	-0.1	0.2
Sep-22	0.0	-0.1
Dec-22	0.2	0.0
Mar-23	0.0	0.2
Jun-23	0.2	0.4
Sep-23	0.3	0.1
Dec-23	0.2	-0.1
Mar-24	0.2	-0.1

Public demand, contribution to GDP growth (a) (b)

["","Gov final consumption expenditure","Gov gross fixed capital formation"]

[["Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24"],[[0],[0.40000000000000002],[0.69999999999999996],[0.20000000000000001],[0.5],[-0.10000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0.29999999999999999],[0.20000000000000001],[0.20000000000000001]],[[0],[0.40000000000000002],[-0.10000000000000001],[0],[0.10000000000000001],[0.20000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0.40000000000000002],[0.10000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001]]]

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Chain volume measures seasonally adjusted
using the GDP series as published in the December 2023 release of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product

Revisions and changes

Revisions

Divergences with government fiscal reporting

Previous catalogue number

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