The Spanish economy’s financing capacity compared with the rest of the world stood at 8.943 billion euros in the fourth quarter, representing 3.1% of GDP. For the year as a whole, the financing capacity was 22.752 billion euros, 2% of GDP.
In the end, its the Public Administrations which had high financing needs in 2016, totalling 50.576 billion euros (but 4.552 billion less than the previous year). But this figure is more than offset by the positive balance in the rest of the sectors. In this case, just the financial institutions and companies increased their financing capacity during last year. The financial institutions’ financing capacity stood at 21.380 billion euros in 2016, up 2.753 billion from a year earlier.
Households clocked up savings of 21.911 billion euros in the fourth quarter, down 7.8%. The savings represented 11.8% of disposable income, 1.3 points less than the figures at end-2015. With an investment in the sector over the period of 9.280 billion euros, 12.430 billion euros of finacing capacity was generated.
For the year as a whole, the savings rate was 7.7%, as a result of a 2.5% increase in disposable income and a 3.0% rise in spending. We are talking about 54.072 billion euros which, compared to an investment of 32.443 billion, allowed for a financing capacity of 21.024 billion.
- In the case of companies, disposable income for the whole of 2016 rose 7.8%. Estimated investment stood at 167.086 billion euros, allowing for a financing capacity of 30.924 billion.
- If we talk about the Public Administrations, their financing needs were 50.576 billion euros in 2016. This is the lowest figure since 2008, estimated at 49.371 billion euros. The highest financing deficit was in 2009, standing at 118.222 billion euros.
- The financial institutions’ disposable income fell 0.2% to 7.765 billion euros in the fourth quarter. Investment by the sector during the last quarter was 1.381 billion euros, allowing for a financing capacity of 7.547 billion.
In this sense, it’s important to remember that the Spanish economy has one of the highest levels of external debt at a European level.
