Glossary

See NAWRU.

The national accounts are an accounting framework, internationally compatible, that describes in a systematic and detailed way an economy, its components and its relations with other economies as a whole. In the European Union it is based on a legal framework consisting of the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), the additional rules contained in the General Government Deficit and Debt Manual and additional guidelines published by Eurostat. In national accounts, the criterion for defining the universe follows the economic perspective, contrary to the public accounting perspective, where the legal-institutional classification of public entities prevails. In Portugal, the calculation of general government statistics in national accounts - carried out by INE and Banco de Portugal, to assess compliance with the fiscal discipline criteria defined in the Maastricht Treaty - follows a commitment/increase basis rather than a cash basis (receipts/payments).

National accounts comprise the financial and non-financial accounts of the economy, covering the main macroeconomic indicators and the economic relations of the various resident and foreign sectors.

All sources of financing originating from general revenue, own revenue, transfers between subsectors and direct or indirect public debt (excludes revenue from the Rest of the World).

The National Health Service is a structure through which the Portuguese State intends to ensure access to healthcare for all citizens of Portugal. Its creation dates back to 1979, with Law No. 56/79, of September 15th. The objectives of the SNS are health promotion and surveillance, disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients and medical and social rehabilitation.

The National Integrated Continued Care Network is an organizational model created by the Ministries of Labor and Social Solidarity and Health, formed by a set of public and private institutions that provide continuous health care and social support. It is aimed at people who, regardless of age, are in a situation of dependence.

Users can be proposed for RNCCI responses in two ways: i) if they are admitted to a National Health Service hospital, through notification by the service's health professionals where they are admitted; or ii) if they are in the community (home, private hospital or other institutions or establishments), the referral is carried out by health professionals from family health units (USF) and Personalized Health Care Units (UCSP) of regional health units.

The National medium-term fiscal-structural plan is defined as the document containing the fiscal, reform and investment commitments of a Member State, covering a period of four or five years depending on the regular length of the legislative term of that Member State. Concept introduced by the European economic governance framework reform of 2024.

NAWRU stands for Non-Accelerating Wage Rate of Unemployment, and can be interpreted as the economy's equilibrium unemployment rate, which ensures that the rate of wage growth does not accelerate. Theoretically it will be the observable unemployment rate when the economy is at its potential. If the economy's unemployment rate is below the NAWRU, there will be greater upward pressure on wages, as firms will have to compete for fewer workers to fill their vacancies, pay over-time to existing workers or lure the already employed workers with better conditions. If the unemployment rate is above the NAWRU, pressures to increase wages decrease, as firms will have a larger pool of available workers. This concept is similar to that of NAIRU (Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment), although the latter considers pressures of price increases rather than pressures of wage increases.

Net expenditure means government expenditure net of interest expenditure, discretionary revenue measures, expenditure on programmes of the Union fully matched by revenue from Union funds, national expenditure on co-financing of programmes funded by the Union, cyclical elements of unemployment benefit expenditure, and one-offs and other temporary measures. Concept changed by the European economic governance framework reform of 2024.

Net financial assets comprise financial assets held (namely cash and cash equivalents, deposits, bonds, shares and securities) less financial liabilities.

The net lending (+) or borrowing (-) of the total economy is the sum of the net lending or borrowing of the different institutional sectors. It represents the net resources that the total economy can lend to the rest of the world (if it is positive) or borrow from the rest of the world (if it is negative). The net lending (+) or borrowing (-) of the total economy is the symmetric to the net borrowing (-) or lending (+) of the rest of the world.  If the country has a financing need, it will have to obtain resources from the rest of the world. If, on the contrary, it has positive net resources, it can lend resources to the rest of the world.

By definition, from a non-financial perspective, the difference between revenue (resources) and expenditure (uses) is the net lending (+)/net borrowing (-) of the general government institutional sector, also known as the budget balance. Alternatively, from a financial perspective, this indicator can also be calculated as the difference between transactions in financial assets and transactions in liabilities. A positive value for this balance means that the General Government sector has the capacity to finance the other sectors of the economy.

Net revenue corresponds to the tax revenue collected by the tax administration minus the reimbursements and other elements that penalize the gross revenue amount.

Next Generation EU is a temporary instrument - part of the Recovery Plan for Europe - designed to boost recovery after the coronavirus pandemic crisis. The main piece of Next Generation-EU is the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.

See: No-policy change scenario

The no-policy change scenario reflects the likely evolution of budgetary items in the event that economic policy measures in force or announced with a sufficient degree of detail are maintained. Thus, if a given measure has been legislated as being temporary, in the no-policy-change policies its direct budgetary effect is automatically eliminated when it ceases to be in force, even if it is expected that this measure will be extended or replaced by another(s) of a similar amount. A projection made under no-policy-change policy cannot be interpreted as if it were a forecast.

Nominal variables are measured in terms of money, expressed in current market prices.

Non-budgetary debts correspond to liabilities arising from operations that do not impact the budget. In the case of municipalities, it corresponds to a parcel that is not included in the calculation of the total municipal debt, since the latter only considers the result of budgetary operations. This type of situation typically covers treasury operations and order accounts. In the first case, this includes collections made by local authorities with an obligation to deliver the respective amounts to third parties (e.g. withholding of Social Security discounts as an employer). In the second case, receipts for collection relating to municipal revenues debited to the treasurer, or even guarantee and guarantee deposits, presented by suppliers and contractors, in which case the respective accounting movements are made by order accounts.

Non-consolidated debt corresponds to the General Government debt, including the debt held by General Government entities, that is, the debt existing between the General Government subsectors.

The non-contributory scheme is a form of universal social protection based on the solidarity of the entire community, intended to prevent situations of poverty and social exclusion or to compensate for the occurrence of certain eventualities, regardless of the contributions made to the system or compliance with certain contributory requirements. The State is responsible for financing this scheme. Non-contributory schemes are part of the Citizenship Social Protection System provided for in the Basic Law on Social Security (Law no. 4/2007, of January 16).

The non-financial account of an institutional sector records all non-financial transactions between the institutional units classified in that sector and all other institutional sectors or with the rest of the world. The main accounts in the sequence of non-financial accounts correspond to the production account, the income distribution and use account, and the capital account. In the specific case of Public Administrations, these accounts provide information about all resources (revenues) and uses (expenditures) in a given period. In Portugal, the compilation of non-financial accounts is the responsibility of the INE (National Institute of Statistics).

Non-financial debt corresponds to debt of a commercial and administrative nature, included in liabilities, because it is already overdue or because it must be settled within twelve months after the balance sheet date.

Non-financial liabilities are the entity's present obligations arising from past events, excluding those resulting from financial transactions, the settlement of which is expected to result in an outflow of the entity's resources embodying economic benefits (vide Law no. 8/2012, of 21 February - Law of Commitments and Arrears - LCPA).

Non-performing loans (“NPLs”) are bank loans that are unlikely to be repaid by the borrower or that are subject to late repayment (if more than 90 days have passed without the borrower paying the agreed instalments). If not paid, the loan is classified as a NPL and the banking institution's accounts must recognize the impairment losses. The level of NPLs is important for the economy as these loans weigh on banks' profitability and absorb valuable resources, restricting banks’ ability to grant new loans. Problems in the banking sector can also quickly spread to other parts of the economy, harming the outlook for jobs and growth.

Non-Reclassified State-Owned Enterprises are entities that form part of the Public Corporations Sector, whose output is considered to be market output according to the criteria defined in the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA) and are therefore not considered to be in the institutional sector of General Government (S13) and can be included either in the institutional sector of non-financial companies (S11) or in the financial sector (S12).

The Notice of Tax Due is a document sent to the taxpayers showing the amount of tax due to the tax administration.