Household savings in Poland reached a historic 2.03 trillion zloty (€456 billion) by the close of Q1 2023, marking a 7.4% YoY rise, as revealed by the Polish Development Fund (PRF). These assets, totaling 2.85 trillion (€640 billion) for the same quarter, showed a 3.5% YoY growth. However, the backdrop of severe inflation, peaking at 18.4% in February and slowing to 10.8% in July, has diminished the real value of these assets. By June, the real interest rate for Polish deposits was a concerning -10.1%, ranking among the EU’s lowest, with only Luxembourg displaying a positive rate at 0.2%.
The PRF’s assessment spans a wide array of assets, from cash and savings deposits to insurance and person-to-person loans. Bank deposits were dominant, comprising 27.5%, followed by “other equity products” at 13.9% and “other deposits” at 12.8%. While cash assets, at 12.1% of financial assets, showed a decline from the prior year, Poland’s cash-to-GDP ratio of 10.8% remains notably high in Europe, second only to Germany (11%) and Slovenia (13.3%). In contrast, areas like pension savings and investment funds only represented a small fraction of Poland’s assets, with the country lagging behind many EU counterparts in these categories.
Source: notesfrompoland.pl
