The national economy recorded a net lending compared with the rest of the world of 13,085 million euros in the first quarter, which represented 3.6% of GDP in that period.
Although this capacity, 236 million lower than in the same quarter of the previous year, is the result of a higher balance of foreign trade in goods and services which, together with the evolution of income and current transfers, produced a higher balance of current transactions with the external sector than in the same quarter of the previous year, which was offset by the decrease in the balance of capital transfers and acquisitions of non-financial assets.
Unit: million euros
Unit: million euros
After adjusting for seasonal and calendar effects, the net lending of the national economy stood at 3.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 1.0 points more than in the previous quarter.
The gross national income increased by 4.9% in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2023, due both to the increase in compensation of resident employees and, to a lesser extent, to the growth of gross operating surplus. The amount of taxes on production and imports, net of subsidies, also increased by 4.2%, while there was a more negative balance of property income with the rest of the world.
Taking into account the lower negative balance of current transfers with the rest of the world, gross national disposable income increased by 5.3%.
Units: million euros and percentage rates
If seasonal and calendar effects are removed, gross national income and gross national disposable income increased by 1.8% and 2.1%, respectively, between the first quarter of 2024 and the fourth quarter of 2023.
The gross added value generated by the sector Households increased by 5.8% year-on-year this quarter and the operating surplus and gross mix income by 5.3%. In turn, the gross disposable income grew by 8.0% and the household final consumption expenditure by 5.3%.
The household savings rate stood at 6.2% of its gross disposable income, compared with 3.7% in the same quarter of the previous year.
Thus, after taking into account the balance of capital transfers from the sector, households recorded a net borrowing of 773 million euros (compared with the 7,312 million euros estimated for the same quarter of 2023).
Excluding seasonal and calendar effects, the savings rate in the sector increased by 1.2 points compared to the previous quarter, standing at 14.2%.
Percentage of Quarterly Gross Disposable Income
Adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects
Gross value added generated by Non-Financial Corporations increased by 3.8% in the first quarter compared to the same period of 2023, while gross operating surplus decreased by 4.9%.
If we remove seasonal and calendar effects, the share of the sector's gross surplus in its value added was 38.8%, 0.9 points higher than in the previous quarter.
In turn, the disposable income of non-financial corporations decreased by 6.1%, while investment increased by 5.9%.
This disposable income, together with its balance of capital transfers, was sufficient to finance the sector's investment volume, which amounted to 45,146 million (5.9% more than in the same quarter of the previous year) and generated a financing capacity of 11,145 million in this quarter.
The gross disposable income of Public Administrations increased by 2.7% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2023, and the final consumption expense by 5.1%. In turn, the investment grew by 8.0%, resulting in the sector presenting a financing need of 6,111 million euros, compared to the need of 3,546 millions the same quarter of the previous year.
Percentage over Quarterly Gross Domestic Product
Adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects
The gross value added of Financial Institutions increased by 23.3% year-on-year in this quarter. The gross operating surplus increased by 36.7%.
The gross disposable income of the sector increased by 55.6% compared to the same quarter in 2023.
Investment by financial corporations amounted to 1,069 million euros (during the same quarter of the previous year it was 589 million). As a result, the financial institutions presented a financing capacity of 8,824 million euros in the first quarter, compared to 6,333 million euros in the same period of the previous year.
The INE has today updated the seasonally and calendar adjusted data for the CTNFSI from the first quarter of 2023. All results are available on INEbase.
In order to guarantee high quality, coherence, and comparability of national accounts data, the European policy of coordinated extraordinary revisions gives countries the opportunity to introduce systematic improvements every five years.
Given that the last one was carried out in 2019, all European Union Member States will conduct a coordinated extraordinary revision of their national accounts series in 2024.
Therefore, the next Statistical Revision of the National Accounts of Spain in 2024 responds to this need to periodically update (at least every five years) the sources and estimation methods used in its compilation.
All results of the operations that make up the national accounts disseminated by the INE from September 2024 will incorporate this revision. Furthermore, the revision will be implemented in coordination with the Bank of Spain for financial accounts and balance of payment and investment position statistics, and with the Comptroller General of the State (IGAE) for the accounts of Public Administrations.
The objective of the Quarterly Non-financial Accounts for the Institutional Sectors (QNFIS) is to discover the economic relationships between the institutional units that form the national economy (households and non-profit institutions serving households, non-financial corporations, financial corporations and public administrations) and between them and the rest of the world in an ordered series of accounts that describe each phase of economic processes (production and creation of income, distribution and redistribution, final consumption, savings and asset accumulation). These results are prepared in compliance with the conceptual and regulatory framework established by the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010), approved by the Regulation (EU) 549/2013, of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 21 May.
The results are published around 90 days following the end of the reference quarter (t+90 days, being t the reference quarter), at the same time as the main aggregates of the national economy provided by the Quarterly National Accounts of Spain. This offers a complete and integrated view of the quarter’s economic evolution.
Both operations are prepared with all the information available at that time. In particular, these results include quarterly information on the Balance of Payments published by the Bank of Spain at around t+85 days, and on the Quarterly Accounts of General Government, disseminated by the Comptroller General of the State Administration at around t+90 days.
The QNFAIS are presented both in the form of integrated and detailed economic accounts as well as in a series of results of the operations and account balances of the institutional sectors and of the national economy. Besides, the adjusted series of seasonal and calendar nature of the main balances of the national economy, of aggregate flows with the rest of the world, and of the most relevant operations and balances for the analysis of the Non-financial corporations, Public Administrations and Households sectors are disseminated, in line with the information requirements of the SEC 2010.
More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.
INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and Code of Best Practices.
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