Compared with other EU countries, Poland ranks among the lowest in terms of the ratio of savings to GDP, according to the chairman of Poland's banking lobby ZBP.The percentage of Poles with savings currently stands at 54-55 percent. According to Bialek, this is one of the lowest levels in the EU.The largest group are those with financial surpluses of more than five months' salary. This is declared by 28 percent of respondents. This is, in Bialek’s opinion, relatively very little compared to other European countries.In his view, a number of factors are responsible for this, including: "the relatively high percentage of Poles who do not have savings, the low percentage of Poles saving for retirement, the low, currently negative, gross savings rate, which, compared to other European countries, has a high growth potential, the passive nature of Poles’ investment strategy and the relatively high level of risk aversion, resulting in a low percentage of Poles with experience in purchasing investment products."According to Bialek, the total household financial assets exceeded PLN 2.8 trillion (EUR 658 billion), which shows that Poles' affluence is increasing."Behind us is only Romania, and far ahead of us are countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary or the leader in our region when it comes to saving, the Czech Republic."Additionally, the structure of Poles' financial assets is dominated by deposits and cash (over 50 percent). Current and settlement deposits account for 27.7 percent and cash for 12.4 percent.Bialek added that Poles not only do not invest in the capital market, but also keep most of their savings in banks, for very short periods and that there is no long-term, systematic saving.Despite high interest rates, a quarter of Poles still keep their money in non-interest bearing accounts."The nature of Poles’ investing is passive, which is linked to the low level of education, which does not encourage too much risk-taking," Bialek summed up. (ICE VARSAVIA)

Fonte notizia: PAP