Glossary

Differential between the implicit interest rate on debt (r) and nominal GDP growth (g).

The rating or credit rating is the classification of the risk level of a company or financial instrument carried out by a specialized entity (Rating Agency). The assessment of the level of risk may generally focus on an issuing entity, taking into account its economic and financial situation and future prospects, or, specifically, on the credit risk of a specific financial instrument, assessing the capacity of the respective entity issuer to perform the debt service in a timely manner.

Nominal variables are measured in terms of goods and services. Real values are adjusted for inflation, enabling comparison of quantities as if the prices of goods had not changed over time.

Reclassified Public Enterprises/Entities are entities that would not be a general government entity from a strict legal standpoint, but which, according to the Budgetary Framework Law and the criteria defined in the European System of National and Regional Accounts, are reclassified into the General Government institutional sector (S13). Thus, their accounts are relevant for the purpose of calculating the public accounts aggregates. The list of entities that are part of the General Government sector is published by INE in the context of the European System of National and Regional Accounts/Excessive Deficit Procedure.

The reference trajectory means the multiannual net expenditure trajectory transmitted by the European Commission to frame the dialogue with Member States where government debt exceeds 60 % of gross domestic product (GDP) or where the government deficit exceeds 3 % of GDP when drawing up their national medium-term fiscal-structural plans. According to Regulation (EU) 2024/1263 it should ensure that, by the end of the adjustment period, the general government debt is on a plausibly downward trajectory or stays at prudent levels, even under adverse scenarios. In addition, it should ensure that the general government deficit is brought and maintained below 3 % of GDP, while taking into account the fact that Member States could face additional costs after the end of the adjustment period such as costs related to demographic ageing. Finally, it should ensure consistency with the corrective path under Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97. Concept introduced by the European economic governance framework reform of 2024.

Refinancing is an issue of new bonds to pay for the repayment of a previous bond issue. It is similar to debt roll-over.

Refunds deducted from payments refer to a deduction from expenditure for undue budget payments, when they occurred in the same year.

Refunds not deducted from payments correspond to the entry of funds into the State or the entity's treasury relating to budget payments made in previous years, which are undue or have not been used by the entities that received the revenue.

People who, regardless of whether at the time of observation – 12am on the reference day - are present or absent in a given dwelling, in which they live with their families for most of the year, or keep all or most of their possessions.

Residual debt maturity is the period of time, normally expressed in years, that runs from the moment of analysis until the expected date of amortization of a given debt security.

Revenue from budgetary financial assets includes the proceeds from the sale and amortization of financial instruments, such as bonds and stocks or other forms of participation, as well as amounts resulting from the reimbursement of loans or grants awarded.

Revenue from budgetary financial liabilities includes revenue generated from the issuance of bonds and loans contracted over short, medium, and long terms.

The risk premium is defined as the additional return compared to the risk-free interest rate that is required by investors to hold risky assets. It is common to calculate the risk premium of a country through the spread. In the euro area, it consists in the difference between the interest rate on a sovereign bond of that particular country and the interest rate on the German debt security (risk-free asset) with the same maturity.