The position of Portuguese institutions in terms of the balance between receipts and
expenditure can be seen in Figure 2, where households show a positive current balance, i.e.
saving, although the capital balance is negative, as it is for all other institutions. The total
balance of households was always positive, except in 1999, although its value has shown a
significant decrease. We can therefore say that, generally speaking, Portuguese households
have tended to enjoy financing ability although this ability has begun to decrease. This may
be an aspect to explore in any attempt made to reduce the observed increase in the net
borrowing of the Portuguese economy, shown by the last (total) column for each year in the
bottom graph, whose approximate share in the GDP7 was: 0% in 1995; 1.3% in 1996; 3% in
1997; 4.5% in 1998; 6.1% in 1999 and 9.1% in 2000.
7 Approximate GDP (in millions of euros) = Added value + other net taxes on production + net taxes on products
(does not include net taxes on products that are receipts from European Union institutions, which are included in
imports) = 86,211 in 1996; 92,857 in 1997; 100,815 in 1998; 107,901 in 1999 and 115,361 in 2000.