Net lending reflects the amount a unit or sector has available to finance, directly or indirectly, other units or sectors.
It can be calculated as saving plus net capital transfers received minus net acquisitions of non-financial assets (i.e. the capital account balance), or as the difference between the net acquisition of financial assets and the net incurrence of liabilities (i.e. the financial account balance). Although both methods should yield the same result, achieving this consistency in practice is one of the most challenging aspects of compiling national accounts. A negative value of net lending is referred to as "net borrowing". All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA).
The indicator is measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
