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Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2000-01

• Government finance statistics statements
• Loan Council Allocation

Appendix D: Commonwealth Government Finance Statistics Statements

The Commonwealth Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 requires that the MYEFO be based on external reporting standards, and that departures from applicable external reporting standards be identified. The major external standards used in this document are Australian Accounting Standards (AAS31) and the ABS accrual GFS framework.

The Commonwealth, States and Territories also have an agreement - the Uniform Presentation Framework (UPF) - that all jurisdictions publish a common core of GFS consistent financial information in their budget papers.

This appendix presents Commonwealth data on a GFS basis, as required by the UPF. Statistical tables are presented below, showing an operating statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement for the Commonwealth general government, public non-financial sector corporations (PNFC) and total non-financial public sectors. The tables were produced by the Department of Finance and Administration (DOFA) in consultation with the ABS.

GST is collected by the Commonwealth, as an agent for the States and Territories, and appropriated to the States. As such, it is not shown as Commonwealth revenue elsewhere throughout this MYEFO. However, the tables in this appendix are presented consistent with ABS standards, on an accrual UPF reporting basis, and show GST as revenue in and expenses out.

Consistent with ABS practice, transactions between the Commonwealth general government and PNFC sectors are included in the tables produced for these sectors, but are removed from the total non-financial sector tables as they are transactions internal to that sector.

Transactions between the Commonwealth public financial corporations (PFC) sector and the general government and PNFC sectors are included in the relevant tables. These transactions include income transfers such as dividends paid to general government, net advances paid by general government to PFCs and taxes paid by PFCs.

Conceptually, the surplus/deficit aggregate contained in the cash flow statement is the same as the deficit measure obtained under the cash GFS framework that was used prior to 1999-2000. However, in practice, the process of deriving these aggregates differs so that the measures are not directly comparable. Time series data created by splicing these measures together should therefore be used with caution.

Government finance statistics statements

Table D1: Commonwealth general government operating statement

(a) GFS revenue does not equal AAS31 revenue. GFS revenue includes all (mutually agreed) transactions that increase net worth. Revaluations are not considered mutually agreed transactions and so are excluded from GFS revenue. Asset sales, which involve a transfer of a non-financial asset for a financial asset, are also excluded.
(b) GFS expenses do not equal AAS31 expenses. GFS expenses include all (mutually agreed) transactions that decrease net worth. Revaluations are not considered mutually agreed transactions and so are excluded from GFS expenses.
(c) GFS net lending also equals net transactions in financial assets less net transactions in liabilities. The term `fiscal balance' is not used by the ABS.

Table D2: Commonwealth general government sector balance sheet

(a) Net worth is calculated as assets minus liabilities.
(b) Net financial worth equals total financial assets minus total liabilities.
(c) Net debt equals the sum of deposits held, advances received and borrowing, minus the sum of cash and deposits, advances paid, and investments, loans and placements.

Table D3: Commonwealth general government sector cash flow statement^(a)

(a) A positive number denotes a cash inflow; a negative sign denotes a cash outflow.
(b) Finance leases are shown with a negative sign as they are deducted in compiling the surplus/deficit.

Table D4: Commonwealth public non-financial corporations operating statement

(a) GFS revenue does not equal AAS31 revenue. GFS revenue includes all (mutually agreed) transactions that increase net worth. Revaluations are not considered mutually agreed transactions and so are excluded from GFS revenue. Asset sales, which involve a transfer of a non-financial asset for a financial asset, are also excluded.
(b) GFS expenses do not equal AAS31 expenses. GFS expenses include all (mutually agreed) transactions that decrease net worth. Revaluations are not considered mutually agreed transactions and so are excluded from GFS expenses.
(c) GFS net lending also equals net transactions in financial assets less net transactions in liabilities. The term `fiscal balance' is not used by the ABS.

Table D5: Commonwealth public non-financial corporations balance sheet

(a) Net worth is calculated as assets minus liabilities minus shares and other contributed capital. The negative net worth recorded for this sector reflects a higher valuation of listed Commonwealth corporations by the sharemarket than the value of net assets recorded by those corporations.
(b) Net financial worth equals total financial assets minus total liabilities minus shares and other contributed capital.
(c) Net debt equals the sum of deposits held, advances received and borrowing, minus the sum of cash and deposits, advances paid, and investments, loans and placements.

Table D6: Commonwealth public non-financial corporations
cash flow statement^(a)

(a) A positive number denotes a cash inflow; a negative sign denotes a cash outflow.
(b) `Other payments for operating activities' includes the cash flow to the general government sector from PNFC distributions paid.
(c) `Distributions paid' comprise PNFC dividends to external shareholders.
(d) Finance leases are shown with a negative sign as they are deducted in compiling the surplus/deficit.

Table D7: Commonwealth total non-financial public sector operating statement

(a) GFS revenue does not equal AAS31 revenue. GFS revenue includes all (mutually agreed) transactions that increase net worth. Revaluations are not considered mutually agreed transactions and so are excluded from GFS revenue. Asset sales, which involve a transfer of a non-financial asset for a financial asset, are also excluded.
(b) GFS expenses do not equal AAS31 expenses. GFS expenses include all (mutually agreed) transactions that decrease net worth. Revaluations are not considered mutually agreed transactions and so are excluded from GFS expenses.
(c) GFS net lending also equals net transactions in financial assets less net transactions in liabilities. The term `fiscal balance' is not used by the ABS.

Table D8: Commonwealth total non-financial public sector balance sheet

(a) Net worth is calculated as assets minus liabilities minus shares and other contributed capital.
(b) Net financial worth equals total financial assets minus total liabilities minus shares and other contributed capital.
(c) Net debt equals the sum of deposits held, advances received and borrowing, minus the sum of cash and deposits, advances paid, and investments, loans and placements

Table D9: Commonwealth total non-financial public sector
cash flow statement^(a)

(a) A positive number denotes a cash inflow; a negative sign denotes a cash outflow.
(b) `Distributions paid' comprise PNFC dividends to external shareholders.
(c) Finance leases are shown with a negative sign as they are deducted in compiling the surplus/deficit.
(d) Time series of surplus/deficit data should be used with caution, as they incorporate cash data for years up to and including 1998-99, and accrual data from 1999-2000 onwards.

The UPF also requires publication of data on general government sector expenses by function. The data are not shown in this part as they have been published earlier, in Table 18 in Part V. However, the data in Part V treat the GST as a State tax, and hence Table 18 excludes GST payments to the States.

Loan Council Allocation

Under Loan Council arrangements, every year the Commonwealth and each State and Territory nominate a Loan Council Allocation (LCA). A jurisdiction's LCA incorporates:

• the estimated non-financial public sector cash deficit (made up of the deficits from the general government and public non-financial corporations sectors);


• net cash flows from investments in financial assets for policy purposes. Such transactions involve the transfer or exchange of a financial asset and are not included within the cash deficit. However, the cash flow from investments in financial assets for policy purposes has implications for a government's call on financial markets; and


• memorandum items, such as transactions that, while not formally borrowings, have many of the characteristics of borrowing.

LCA nominations are considered by the Loan Council, having regard to each jurisdiction's fiscal position and reasonable infrastructure requirements, as well as the macroeconomic implications of the aggregate figure.

The Commonwealth nominated, and the Loan Council endorsed, an LCA surplus for 2000-01 of $6.9 billion. In its May 2000 Budget, the Commonwealth estimated an increased LCA surplus of $8.5 billion, with the change primarily reflecting improvements in the estimated general government surplus.

Table D10 presents a revised estimate of the Commonwealth's 2000-01 LCA, updating the budget estimate provided in 2000-01 Budget Paper No. 3, Federal Financial Relations. The increase in the Commonwealth's estimated LCA surplus since the Budget mainly reflects an improvement in the general government cash surplus. However, the Commonwealth does not expect to exceed its tolerance limit of 2 per cent of non-financial public sector receipts from operating activities which applies on either side of its budget LCA estimate.

Table D10: Commonwealth's loan council allocation for 2000-01 

(a) Such transactions involve the transfer or exchange of a financial asset and are not included within the cash deficit. However, the cash inflow from investments in financial assets for policy purposes has implications for a government's call on financial markets.
(b) For the Commonwealth, memorandum items comprise the change in net preset value (NPV) of operating leases (with NPV greater then $5 million), university borrowings, overfunding of superannuation and an adjustment to exclude the net financing requirements of statutory marketing authorities and Telstra from the LCA.