The net lending of the economy stood at 0.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the year ending in the third quarter of 2018, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) compared to the previous quarter.
The institutional sector of Households showed a decrease in their net lending, from 0.8% to 0.4% of GDP in the year ending in the third quarter of 2018. Households’ final consumption expenditure increased more than disposable income, which led to the reduction in the saving rate to 4.0%. The balance of Non-Financial Corporations deteriorated to -1.9% of GDP in the third quarter, while net lending of Financial Corporations decreased to 1.9%.
In the year ending in the third quarter of 2018, the General Government (GG) balance reached a slightly positive value, (representing 0.0% of GDP) compared with -1.0% in the previous quarter. This improvement also reflects special factors which affected the second and third quarters (see box in the end of this press release). Taking into account quarterly figures and not the year ending in the quarter, the balance of GG stood at 3 082.2 million euro in the third quarter of 2018, corresponding to 6.0% of GDP. For the first three quarters of 2018, the overall balance of the GG stood at 1 111.2 million euro, representing 0.7% of GDP (-3.2% in the same period of the previous year).