Period-specific information: Year ended June 2022 publication

Reference period This information release presents government finance statistics (GFS) for local, central, and general government for the years ended June 2009 to 2022. Implementation of new government finance statistics standard In 2018, we implemented the International Monetary Fund’s Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014), which follows GFSM 2001 and is consistent with the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA08). Implementing GFSM 2014 ensures that New Zealand’s GFS are consistent with international best practice and are comparable internationally. The GFSM 2014 standard introduced key conceptual changes – most notably, the capitalisation of research and development, and weapons systems (see Preview of 2018 government finance statistics improvement for more information). Some item reclassifications have also occurred across the GFSM 2001 and GFSM 2014 standards which we were unable to implement in time for the 2018 release. Each year we make further improvements to our classifications to reflect the GFSM 2014 standard. Central government data revisions One notable revision to the 2021/2022 central government data is to Other current transfers paid and received. This is due to an updated classification of Proceeds of crime in the government accounts. Additionally, data updates across fixed assets series were made because of new IFRS accounting guidelines for capitalisation of Software as a Service. Local Authority Census data for 2021 We replaced the local government provisional estimates for the year ended June 2021 with final data from the Local Authority Census (LAC). The resulting data updates are minor. Data updates of this nature are expected as we continue to model provisional estimates for the local government sector in the absence of LAC data for the latest published year. Due to the lag in availability of LAC data, we modelled provisional estimates for the local government sector for the latest published year. This involved using both Quarterly Local Authority Statistics data for operating income and expenditure items, and annual report data for balance sheet positions (ie, assets and liabilities). When local authority annual report data was not available, we used balance sheet positions from the previous financial year. In response to the disruptions caused by COVID-19 on council operations, the government extended the deadline for councils to complete and adopt their 2019/2020 financial year audited annual reports, from 31 October to 31 December. This temporary legislation has resulted in slightly larger balance sheet data updates than usual, as the 2019/2020 provisional data had not accounted for shifts in assets and liabilities due to regional impacts of COVID-19 on local authorities. March/June timing differences National accounts annual releases are compiled on a March year-end basis, whereas Government finance statistics (general government) is compiled on a June year-end basis. Government financial statistics provide an economic representation of central and local government financial activity. Timing differences across the national accounts and government finance statistics releases do not typically lead to large differences in government measures, however in the 2019/2020 year a large proportion of COVID-related government transactions occurred in the June 2020 quarter. Most notably, the government’s COVID-19 business support subsidy package was administered in both the March and June 2020 quarters. The government accounts are accrual-based, which means that business subsidy payments are recognised as they are approved. Approximately a third of the subsidies were approved in the March quarter, with most of the remainder approved in the June quarter. During the 2021/2022 year a similar effect occurs with increased subsidies in the September quarter of 2021 occurring immediately after the year ended June 2021 threshold. Some of our government measures will therefore vary significantly across the March and June year-end releases. Data available on Infoshare We have applied data updates to time series data on Infoshare, under the following categories: Subject category: Government finance Group: Government finance statistics – GFS en-NZ