Official Portal - Statistics Portugal
      
 

Households' savings rate was 12.8% in 2020, up by 5.7 percentage points from 2019
Quarterly National Sector Accounts
Households' savings rate was 12.8% in 2020, up by 5.7 percentage points from 2019 - 4th Quarter 2020
26 March 2021

Summary

• The net lending of Portuguese economy, compared to the previous quarter, remained at 0.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the year ending in the fourth quarter of 2020 (in 2019, the net lending of the economy was 1.0% of GDP).
• Gross National Income (GNI) and Gross Disposable Income (GDI) diminished both 0.8%, while nominal GDP decreased by 1.0% in the year ending in the fourth quarter of 2020 (rates of change of -0.8% and -1.1% in the previous quarter, respectively). Compared to 2019, GNI, GDI and nominal GDP decreased by 4.4%, 4.3% and 5.4%, respectively (rates of change of 4.2% for GNI and 4.3% for GDI and nominal GDP in 2019, compared to 2018).
• In the fourth quarter 2020, the net lending of households' sector increased by 1.4 percentage points to 5.9% of GDP and the savings rate reached 12.8% (11.0% in the previous quarter and 7.1% in 2019), being necessary to go back to 2002 to find a similar savings rate. This result reflected mainly the nominal reduction by 5.0% in private consumption of households, an unprecedented negative rate of change for the series beginning in 1995, as the household’s disposable income increased by 1.0%, partly reflecting the measures carried out by government in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic with a negative impact in the General Government (GG) balance.
• The balance of Non-Financial Corporations stood at -2.4% of GDP, same as in the previous quarter, but less negative than in the end of 2019 (-3.2%), with an increase in subsidies and a reduction in paid income properties (rates of change of 23.5% and -2.5%, respectively), particularly in the case of dividends.
• The net lending of Financial Corporations remained similar to the previous quarter (2.2% of GDP), but diminishing compared to 2019, when it was 2.6% of GDP.
• The balance of the GG sector decreased by 1.5 percentage points in the year ending in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing a net borrowing of 5.7% of GDP (positive balance of 0.1% in 2019). Considering quarterly figures and not the year ending in the quarter, the balance of GG in the fourth quarter of 2020 was -3 905.1 million euros (-7.4% of GDP, compared with -4.3% in the third quarter). The deterioration of the GG balance was associated to the measures carried out by government in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and to the sensitiveness of public finances to the significant contraction in economic activity, notably in the case of fiscal revenue.


Press release
Download the document PDF (398 Kb)
Tables
Excel Excel (428 Kb)
Excel Excel (405 Kb)
Excel Excel (596 Kb)
ZIP CSV (40 Kb)
ZIP CSV (44 Kb)
CSV CSV (81 Kb)