Lisbon, Jan. 16, 2025 (Lusa) - More than 21% of Portuguese net worth is in bank deposits and household disposable income has been growing for four quarters, according to analysis by Corum Investments Portugal and BA&N Research Unit.
"According to data from the ECB [European Central Bank] for the first quarter of 2024, each Portuguese had an average of €22,300 in bank deposits," reads the document released on Thursday.
This figure represents 21.2% of household net worth, the highest share of wealth among eurozone countries.
The ‘Household Savings and Monetary Policy’ analysis revealed that Portuguese households have been able to save a greater part of their disposable income in recent quarters, due to higher growth rates in income, which contrast with consumption expenditure.
Household disposable income grew by 7.9% to over €188.999 billion in the 12 months ending in June (data from INE - the Portuguese National Statistics Institute).
In turn, consumer spending advanced by 4.6% to 169.4 billion euros, allowing for savings of around €19 billion.
In the first three months of 2024, each Portuguese had, on average, a net worth of €105,000, a year-on-year increase of 6%.
Compared to the Covid-19 pre-pandemic scenario, the progress is 29%.
"Compared to 10 years ago ( €60,700), the average wealth of each Portuguese person has increased by 73%," it pointed out.
With regard to debt, the weight of credit in net worth went from 22.4% (10 years ago) to 13.4% in 2024.
In March, each Portuguese had a bank debt of €14,000, "stabilising compared to the same period in 2023 and an increase of only 6% in 10 years".
In terms of the composition of their assets, the Portuguese have €65,000 in property, whereas ten years ago this figure was below €40,000.
In second place are bank deposits, which account for almost 50% of total non-financial assets.
The analysis also concluded that the weight of deposits in Portugal is reflected in a "very small exposure to securities listed on the financial markets".
Investment in debt securities has almost halved since the beginning of the pandemic, now representing 0.4% of net worth.
In March, each Portuguese had €590 invested in shares, which is equivalent to 0.6% of net worth. Ten years ago, the weight was almost double and before the pandemic it stood at 0.5%.
In funds, on the other hand, investment was around €2,720, equivalent to 2.6% of net wealth.
"The preference for deposits to invest savings has represented a high opportunity cost in the last year, as they offer a return that often doesn't even cover inflation. This is what is expected to continue to happen now that the ECB is lowering interest rates," it said, pointing out that those who invested their savings in term deposits in September 2023 had a gross return of 2.3% over the same period.
The sources of this analysis are the ECB, Reuters, Banco de Portugal, Confidencial Imobiliário, IGCP - Agência de Gestão da Tesouraria e da Dívida Pública and the Portuguese Association of Investment, Pension and Equity Funds (APFIPP).
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