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Households saving rate stays high at 20% in Q4 – CSO
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that households’ saving remained high during the last three months of 2022.
The CSO said the Households Saving Rate stood at 20% in the fourth quarter of 2022 as people continued the higher rate of saving begun during the Covid pandemic.
Before adjusting for seasonality or inflation, households saved a total of €3.9 billion in the fourth quarter, today’s CSO figures show.
Peter Culhane, Statistician in the CSO’s National Accounts Analysis & Globalisation Division, said that Irish households built up a lot of savings over Covid-19 and they are not winding them down.
“The saving rate was 20% in October, November, and December of 2022. This means that far from making up for missed opportunities to spend, households are now saving more than they did before the pandemic. We note that over the last seven quarters, the savings rate has been around 20%,” he added.
Households saving rates had reached over 33% during the Covid pandemic from rates of about 10% in 2019.
The CSO noted today that households’ total disposable income of households was largely unchanged in the quarter, as inflation eroded higher income from employment and social protection.
Household consumption grew in the three month period partly due to high inflation, but also because more goods and services were used, particularly in the hospitality sector.
The CSO said that while costs increased due to high inflation in the fourth quarter of 2022, household incomes kept pace in the quarter, and households slowly increased their post-pandemic spending while maintaining a high level of saving.
Article Source: Households saving rate stays high at 20% in Q4 – CSO – RTE
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