Belgians' savings fell in 2022 for the first time in five years, report l'Echo and De Tijd.
According to the newspaper's analysis, Belgians' total assets held in regulated savings accounts across nine major Belgian banks fell €1.3 billion over the past year, from €277.4 billion to €276.1 billion.
Among those banks currently operating in Belgium, BNP Paribas Fortis, Belgium's largest bank, recorded the biggest drop in customers' savings (€3.4 billion; Rabobank.be recorded an even higher decrease of €3.7 billion, but ceased operations in Belgium on 1 September.) KBC, by contrast, recorded the largest growth in customers' savings (€3.4 billion).
It is estimated that Belgians' assets held in regulated savings accounts across all banks in Belgium currently total €300 billion.
The more obvious causes
One obvious reason why Belgians' savings fell last year is the country's soaring inflation rate precipitated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to the National Bank of Belgium (BNB), inflation reduced Belgians' overall purchasing power by 0.4% in 2022, while consumer spending rose 4% — thus effectively forcing many Belgians to dig into their savings.
Economists believe that the increase in consumer spending, while largely attributable to the rising costs for essential purchases such as food and heating, was also largely caused by the fact that many Belgians splashed out on holidays last summer for the first time in more than two years after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
...and the less obvious ones
Other, more technical reasons for the reduction in savings include the fact the average annual savings rate of 0.2% offered by Belgians bank to customers is not commensurate with the country's high inflation rate, which last month reached 10.35%.
Indeed, the discrepancy between banks' proffered savings rates and inflation led to Belgians' purchasing power decreasing by more than €30 billion over the course of 2022. (Some banks have recently announced increases in their customers' savings rates; however, the new rates all still fall far short of Belgium's current rate of inflation.)
Another, similarly technical reason for the decrease in savings is the fact that BNP Paribas Fortis limited deposits in its regulated savings accounts to €250,000 last year. This, in turn, entailed that deposits above €250,000 ended up in unregulated savings accounts and are therefore not included l'Echo's and De Tijd's figures.
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A final factor is the increase in yields of ten-year Government bonds from 0.2% at the end of 2021 to 3.1% today, which led many Belgians to withdraw their savings and invest in bonds in order to profit from the increased rates.
"2022 was the year of the return to the grace of bonds," explained BNP Paribas Fortis in a statement. Belfius noted that many of its customers also withdrew money from their savings accounts to invest in bonds last year, as did KBC, Crelan, and Deutsche Bank.
