Summary
The net borrowing of the Portuguese economy decreased to 3.9% of GDP in the year ending in the 1st quarter of 2012 (5% in the previous quarter). This evolution was mainly driven by the raise of households’ net lending and by the reduction in the net borrowing of the non financial corporations. The net borrowing of General Government registered a slight increase.
The net lending of households grew by 0.7 percentage points (p.p.) and represented 5.1% of GDP. This performance reflected the increase of the households’ saving rate, which attained 10,8% of disposable income, mainly due to the contraction of private consumption. The net borrowing of non financial corporations decreased 0.5 p.p. to 4.2% of GDP in the year ended in the first quarter of 2012, as a consequence of the drop in the investment.
The net borrowing of the General Government increased from 4.2% of GDP in 2010 to 4.3% in the year ending in the 1st quarter of 2012. This performance reflected lower revenues from the taxes on production (growth rate of -1.7% in the year ended in the 1st quarter of 2012) and the increase of social security expenditure (1.2% for the same period).