STA, 27 October 2021 - Slovenian households made record savings last year, but their debt has not changed significantly compared to 2019, the Statistics Office said ahead of World Savings Day on 31 October. Meanwhile, household savings have strengthened in all European countries.
The household savings rate in Slovenia - defined as the share of gross savings in gross disposable income - was at a record high of 22.6% last year. The long-term average from 2008 to 2020 stood at 13.4%.
According to the latest available Eurostat data, households in Slovenia thus ranked third among the EU member states observed in terms of their savings rate last year. The highest rate was recorded in the Netherlands (24%) and the lowest in Slovakia (10.9%).
Household consumption was down everywhere in the EU except Slovakia last year, and the most pronounced decline was recorded in Spain (-12%). Statisticians mainly attributed this to the difficulty of spending during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The stronger decline in consumption and the continued growth in gross disposable income were therefore reflected in increased household savings, which was increased in all European countries monitored in 2020.
Household savings increased most markedly in Luxembourg (+9.5 percentage points) and Slovenia (+8.9), and least markedly in Hungary (-0.3) and Slovakia (-0.8).
The value of household net financial assets in Slovenia - defined as the difference between assets and liabilities - was at an all-time high of EUR 48.2 billion (102.8% of GDP) at the end of 2020. Compared to 2019, it increased by EUR 5.2 billion (+12%).
Household financial assets (cash, deposits, shares and other) stood at EUR 63 billion (134.3% of GDP) at the end of last year, up EUR 5.2 billion (9%) on the previous year thanks to strong household savings.
The structure of Slovenian households' financial assets did not change significantly during the pandemic in comparison to previous years.
Deposits and cash continued to account for the largest share (49.3%), followed by shares and other equity (29.9%), insurance and pension schemes (13.1%), debt securities and other receivables (5.6%) and loans (2.2%).
This structure of financial assets reveals that households in Slovenia remain conservative and risk-averse in their choice of savings. The share of riskier investments remains relatively low, the Statistics Office explained.
Household financial liabilities, such as loans, amounted to EUR 14.8 billion (31.5% of GDP) at the end of last year. Their growth stagnated compared to the previous year, with long-term loans in particular increasing at a much lower rate than in the previous three years.
Household debt in Slovenia, measured as the ratio of financial liabilities from loans to disposable income, decreased by 1.4 percentage points to an average of 43%, the Statistics Office announced.
