BNB: Personal savings rate reaches BGN 2.6 bn for the year to date

Retail deposits have risen by BGN 2.59 bn since the start of the year, according to Profit.bg's calculations. Consumers in Bulgaria continue to put off spending and deposit their money in commercial banks instead, the site said in response to latest BNB data. August marked the 23 consecutive month in which households added to their savings accounts, as the deposit base grew by BGN 270 mln.

Just a month after official data in July showed a record BGN 439 mln in deposits since the start of the year, figures showed the second weakest monthly result for 2012, behind the BGN 200 mln, deposited in February.

Exactly 40% of retail deposits are Euro-denominated. The largest share (51.24%) is taken up by deposits in the Bulgarian currency, while foreign exchange deposits (mostly US dollar-denominated) comprise less than 9%. A year ago, savings in leva accounted for 46.7% of all, with 45.05% for those in Euro. Despite the record savings rate – 75.5% of retail deposits amount to BGN 100 or less, showed data for the first half of the year. Nearly 8.14 mln of the newly-opened deposit accounts are for sums up to BGN 1,000, with cumulative value of just BGN 895 mln.

BNB figures also show an unprecedented total amount of personal savings (BGN 34.5 bn as of August 31), an increase of 15% year-on-year. By contrast, household debt fell by 1.4% to BGN 18.7 bn for the same period. As a result, the net worth Bulgarians hold in banks (deposits minus loans) rose to BGN 15.8 bn as of August 31, 2012.

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