38 The main element in these analyses is not just the real interest rate – ‘r’ as the macroeconomists call it – but the gap between this rate and that of real GDP growth, i.e. ‘r-g’:  36 37 38  Bank of Italy (2017a). Bank of Italy (2017a).
Given the persistent strength of private credit demands, market interest rates would have risen even more were it not for the emergence of a sizable unified budget surplus following a long period of chronic deficits.