Previously, we had targeted a particular level of ES balances and used the price (i.e. the repo rate) to determine which counterparty bids were filled (and which were unfilled). Lately, we have been meeting the demand of banks that present at auctions at a steady repo rate.
A growing stock of sovereign debt held by foreigners has been an especially important contributor to these income payments. The overall income deficit stands at about 3% of GDP, of which close to 1.5 percentage points is coming from interest payments on sovereign debt. The fiscal balance has changed less than the current account deficit, at least at a headline level.