Poles save up 1.6 trillion zloty

Two years after the financial crisis hit global markets, Poles are saving more than in times of prospertity. With the trillion zloty mark passed in December 2009, estimates point to a figure of 1.6 trillion zloty (around 398 million euro) saved by the end of March.

Most of the savings are held in bank deposits, although more money is being transferred to retirement investment funds. In 2005 around 10 percent of savings were held in such funds, with that number now reaching 18 percent, making such schemes the second most popular method of saving.

Even though Poles are depositing more into savings accounts, the current rate of interest will not mean that savings will quickly increase in value, however. “Poles always tend to save more when the market is in flux,” Maciej Krzak from the CASE foundation told the Rzeczpospolita daily. “When the situation gets better […] people may well start saving less,” he added.
 
Analysts underline the fact that even though a trillion zloty may seem a lot, it is not much in terms of GDP, reaching 75 percent. “[In Germany] savings accounted for 100 percent of GDP mid-way through 2009,” Grzegorz Maliszewski, chief economist for Millennium Bank, told the daily.
 
Poland is still far behind countries such as China or Japan in terms of financial wealth. However, economists suggest that Poles are beginning to save more than Americans.

Source: Rzeczpospolita (jb)