Summary
In the year ended in the 3rd quarter 2011, the net borrowing of the Portuguese economy maintained a downward trend, attaining 6.9% of GDP (7.6% in the previous quarter). This behaviour was the result of improvements in the net borrowing of General Government (from -8.8% of GDP in the 2nd quarter to -8.0% in the 3th quarter) and, to a lesser extent, in the net lending of Financial Corporation (from 2.7% to 3.1% of GDP). The contribution of these two sectors more than compensated the deterioration of the balances of the remaining sectors. The net lending of Households diminished to 3.6% of GDP, 0.2 percentage points less than the observed in the previous quarter, mainly due to the reduction of the saving rate. The net borrowing of the Non-Financial Corporations was -5.5% of GDP (0.4 percentage points less than the observed in the previous quarter).