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
December 2021
Released
1/03/2022

Key statistics

In the December quarter 2021:

  • taxation revenue rose 24.9% to $178.5b
  • general government net operating balance rose $39.1b to -$5.4b
  • general government borrowing was $16.1b
  • total public demand is expected to detract -0.1ppt from the quarterly change in GDP

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

One article is included in this release:

Government finance statistics fiscal measures

Government finance statistics fiscal measures, original
 Mar Qtr 2021Jun Qtr 2021Sep Qtr 2021Dec Qtr 2021Sep Qtr 2021 to
Dec Qtr 2021
$m$m$m$m% change
Taxation revenue
 General government145,131171,227142,996178,53724.9%
Total revenue
 General government177,404207,039178,747210,91818.0%
 Public non-financial corporations23,35826,19724,71423,787–3.8%
Total expenses
 General government197,862204,708223,283216,348–3.1%
 Public non-financial corporations24,22327,59225,18424,659–2.1%
GFS Net Operating Balance
 General government-20,4572,332-44,536-5,430np
 Public non-financial corporations-865-1,395-470-872np
GFS Net Lending (+)/Borrowing (-)
 General government-30,038-15,294-51,832-16,130np
 Public non-financial corporations-552-4,734-2,109-3,825np

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

  1. original, current prices

National accounts public sector measures

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for the December quarter 2021 which will be included in the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. 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:

  • public sector demand is expected to detract -0.1 percentage points from the change in GDP in December quarter 2021.
  • general government final consumption expenditure increased by $104m or 0.1% and is expected to contribute 0.0 percentage points to the change in GDP in December quarter 2021.
  • general government gross fixed capital formation decreased by -$733m or -3.2%.
  • public corporations gross fixed capital formation increased by $160m or 2.8%.
  • total public gross fixed capital formation decreased by -$572m or -2.0% and is expected to detract -0.1 percentage points from the change in GDP in December quarter 2021.
Quarterly national accounts public sector measures, seasonally adjusted
    Mar Qtr 2021Jun Qtr 2021Sep Qtr 2021Dec Qtr 2021Sep Qtr 2021
to
Dec Qtr 2021
    $m$m$m$m% change
CURRENT PRICES
General government final consumption expenditure (a)
 National-defence9,3449,4529,8169,422-4.0
 National-non-defence39,81940,97642,71642,7750.1
 Total national49,16350,42852,53252,197-0.6
 State and local61,40962,07065,11666,3331.9
 Total general government final consumption expenditure110,571112,498117,648118,5310.8
Public gross fixed capital formation
 General government
  National-defence2,4192,5123,0242,379-21.3
  National-non-defence2,2042,1882,7582,622-4.9
  Total national4,6234,7005,7825,001-13.5
  State and local16,05017,95916,63717,2373.6
  Total general government20,67322,65922,41822,238-0.8
 Public corporations
  Commonwealth1,5291,6111,4201,5317.8
  State and local4,1534,3184,4664,5702.3
  Total public corporations5,6825,9295,8856,1013.7
 Total public gross fixed capital formation26,35528,58828,30428,3390.1
Total public demand136,926141,086145,952146,8700.6
Memorandum item
 Net purchases of second hand assets by public sector (c)4171,219482543np
 
CHAIN VOLUME (b)
General government final consumption expenditure
 National-defence9,3679,4139,6789,204-4.9
 National-non-defence39,36640,07641,57841,397-0.4
 Total national48,73349,48951,25650,602-1.3
 State and local60,56661,10863,59564,3541.2
 Total general government final consumption expenditure109,300110,597114,852114,9560.1
Public gross fixed capital formation
 General government
  National-defence2,6832,7903,3202,492-24.9
  National-non-defence2,2252,2002,7992,579-7.9
  Total national4,9084,9906,1195,071-17.1
  State and local16,20618,01316,52416,8401.9
  Total general government21,11423,00222,64321,910-3.2
 Public corporations
  Commonwealth1,5131,5651,3671,4677.3
  State and local4,1094,1974,2774,3371.4
  Total public corporations5,6225,7625,6445,8042.8
 Total public gross fixed capital formation26,73628,76528,28727,715-2.0
Total public demand136,035139,361143,139142,670-0.3
Memorandum item
 Net purchases of second hand assets by public sector (c)4131,197467517np

— nil or rounded to zero
np indicates this value not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) See Explanatory Notes for the relationship between general government final consumption expenditure and GFS aggregates
(b) Reference year for chain volume measures in 2019-20 = 100.0

Public expenditure contribution to GDP growth

  1. Chain volume measures seasonally adjusted
  2. using the GDP series as published in the Sep 2021 release of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product

Revisions and changes

Accounting standard changes

The following Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) standard changes have been introduced in government financial reporting for periods from 1 July 2019 onwards, leading to increased divergence in certain circumstances between economic statistics publications and government financial reporting:

  • Leases (AASB 16): The standard removes the distinction between operating and finance leases on the lessee side of financial reporting. The conceptual distinction between operating and finance leases remains in economic statistics. GFS outputs are consistent with the historical treatment.
  • Revenue recognition (AASB 15 & 1058): The standard requires revenue to be recognised when performance obligations are met in certain circumstances. In GFS the change primarily affects grant revenue received by state and territory governments from the Commonwealth. Recognition of grant revenue in GFS remains consistent with the historical treatment which is based on when jurisdictions have access to the funding as reported by the Commonwealth.
  • Service Concession Arrangements (AASB 1059): The standard impacts ownership of non-financial assets. It applies a control concept to determine non-financial asset ownership. Non-financial asset ownership in GFS is determined based off a risk-reward concept consistent with the historical treatment which has been maintained in economic statistics.

Revisions

Statistical revisions are carried out regularly in Government Finance Statistics to reflect the most current information and data available.

Divergences with government fiscal reporting

Divergences between state and commonwealth fiscal reporting and Government Finance Statistics may occur as a result of conceptual determinations and timing recognition differences, to ensure alignment with economic activity as measured across ABS macroeconomic statistics. These differences primarily impact on measures of government subsidies and other support payments to businesses and households, non-employee expenses and change in inventories.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

COVID-19 impacted a range of Government Finance Statistics series over the preceding two years.  As new government policies were announced, the key policies and conceptual determinations were discussed in articles such as Economic measurement during COVID-19: Selected issues in the Economic Accounts, with a quarterly update series, such as Classifying COVID-19 policy interventions during September quarter 2021 in macroeconomic statistics.

Given that the volume of new policies in December quarter 2021 has slowed, this article has been discontinued. The ABS continues to work with GFS data providers on all relevant policy and conceptual determinations.

The roll out of government purchases of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) did not materially affect government final consumption expenditure this quarter.

Data downloads

Government Finance Statistics, Australia

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5519.0.55.001.

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