Since the beginning of 2023, the money that Spanish households keep in bank deposits has been reduced by 19,500 million euros after going from the trillion euros registered at the end of 2022 to the 984,800 million that were registered at the end of July, according to the data published this Tuesday by the Bank of Spain, which represents a 2% drop since the beginning of the year.
In relation to the same month last year, when deposits reached 997.400 million, the decrease is somewhat more moderate, 12.600 million euros, 1.3%.
Behind this retreat can be seen the inflationary pressure that households are suffering, which reduces their monthly liquidity and forces them to pull savings, as well as the increase in mortgage interest rates.
But beyond spending, the movement of Spanish household savings is also motivated by the need to seek greater profitability. The escalation of interest rates that financial institutions have transferred so quickly to loans and mortgages has not had the same derivative in the case of profitability on savings, so that savings have mainly sought the safe alternative of the Bills of Treasure.
According to the latest data from the Bank of Spain, Spanish families have become, for the first time in history, the main holder of short-term Spanish public debt.
This trend is much more acute in the case of companies. Until the end of July, company savings in bank deposits fell by 18.8 billion, this is a 6% drop. If compared with a year ago, the flight of bank deposits from companies is attenuated to 4.1%, after having fallen by 13 million euros.
