Munich (dpa / lby) – Because of the high inflation, savers are in a worse position than in previous years, despite the fact that interest rates have recently been positive again. That said Bavaria’s savings bank president Ulrich Reuter at the half-yearly balance sheet in Munich. “Zero interest and one to two percent inflation were even more advantageous for customers than eight percent inflation and one percent interest.” This is a “significantly harder lot” for small savers.
Reuter warned that inflation is robbing many people of the ability to save and make financial provisions at all. “If inflation stays high or even continues to rise, the number of people who are still able to save will decrease significantly. The impact is yet to come.”
In the medium term, inflation will also have an impact on old-age provision. “If the zero interest rate is replaced by zero savings, then that must also fill the state and society with concern.”
As far as their own business situation is concerned, the 61 Bavarian savings banks are satisfied with their first half of the year, but expect less good business in the second half of the year. “We will certainly feel the uncertainty in the next few months,” said Association Vice President Roland Schmautz. From January to the end of June, the lending business in particular boomed, especially real estate loans. The savings banks lent 7.7 billion euros more for private residential construction than in the first half of 2021, an increase of 8.5 percent.
According to an analysis by the Savings Banks Association, this very strong growth can be explained by the fact that many customers still wanted to secure low interest rates on loans. In combination with the rapidly increasing construction costs, the increase in real estate interest rates will, according to Schnautz, mean that fewer people will be able to afford a house or their own apartment. “Some dreams can no longer be realized.”
The very high growth in balances on current accounts and other deposits in the first two years has already come to an end. In the first half of the year, deposits fell by one percent to EUR 192.6 billion. In 2020 and 2021, Germans had carried large sums of money to the banks nationwide, according to economists’ analysis, due to a lack of opportunity to spend money due to lockdowns and travel restrictions.
