Net lending/borrowing is one of only two balancing items in the SNA where the reference to net is not in juxtaposition to gross: in other words it is not in reference to lending net of depreciation. If it is positive it is described as net lending and if negative, as net borrowing. It reflects the amount of financial assets that are available for lending or needed for borrowing to finance all expenditures – consumption expenditure, gross capital formation and capital transfers – in excess of disposable income. Its importance as an economic concept is best illustrated by the fact that it forms one of the two Maastricht excessive deficit criteria (with an additional adjustment to reflect net streams of interest payments resulting from swaps arrangements and forward rate agreements) used by the European Commission to assess the soundness and sustainability of public finances.