The net lending of the economy stood at 0.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the year ended in the second quarter of 2018, which corresponds to a decrease of 0.4 percentage points (p.p.) compared to the previous quarter.
By institutional sector, the households sector presented a decrease in the respective balance, moving from 0.8% to 0.7% of GDP in the year ended in the second quarter of 2018. The final consumption expenditure of households registered an increase higher than disposable income, which led to a reduction of the savings rate to 4.4%. The balance of the non-Financial Corporations deteriorated to -1.2% of GDP, while the net lending of Financial Corporations increased to 2.1% of GDP.
General Government (GG) net borrowing increased to 0.9% of GDP, compared to 0.7% in the previous quarter. Taking into account quarterly figures and not the year ended in the quarter, the GG balance stood at -1 491.3 million euros in the second quarter of 2018, corresponding to -2.9% of GDP. In the first half of 2018, the overall balance of the GG stood at 1,864.7 million euros, representing -1.9% of GDP (-6.1% in the same period of the previous year).