Public sector spending fell in the September quarter and will be a slight drag on economic growth to be reported on Wednesday.
Government final consumption spending, which is mainly the cost of delivering services, was up by 0.8 per cent in the quarter after allowing for price changes and regular seasonality, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
But capital investment by governments and public corporations fell by 4.4 per cent.
That was more than enough to offset the solid rise in government consumption, resulting in a fall of 0.3 per cent for government spending overall.
Government spending works out to be a bit over one fifth of gross domestic product.
As a result, the effect on GDP growth, to be reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, will be a quarter of that 0.3 per cent fall or a drag of a little less than a tenth of a percentage point.
Other figures released on Tuesday by the ABS showed a rise in exports combined with a fall in imports, in real terms, will add 0.8 percentage points to growth, in line with most economists' estimates based on already-available imports and export price data and the monthly trade figures.
An AAP survey on Friday showed expectations for GDP growth centred on a quarterly rose of 0.7 per cent and annual growth of 3.1 per cent, very close to most estimates of the long-run trend in economic growth.
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