Irish household savings increase by €8bn over the last year  

Central Bank figures show total household savings has reached €152bn — up €7.9bn from April 2022

Irish households have €152bn in savings in banks, most of which is in overnight deposit accounts. 

Irish households saved nearly €8bn in the year to April despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, new figures from the Central Bank of Ireland show.

Figures released on Wednesday show total household savings has reached €152bn — up €7.9bn from April 2022 — almost all of which, 94%, is sitting in overnight deposit accounts rather than longer-term savings accounts. 

During April alone, household savings increased by €831m.

Compared to April 2022, household savings increased by 5.5%, however, this is a slight drop from the 5.8% rate recorded in March.

Inflation during April was running at 6.3% annually, according to the CSO.

The Central Bank said while interest rates on term deposits have begun to increase in recent months, “the proportion of these deposits has remained at 2% throughout the year to date”.

The average interest rate offered by the three pillar banks on overnight deposit accounts is 0.03%.

The average interest rates for savings accounts with agreed maturity is at 1.14%. The equivalent rate in the euro area was 2.11%.

Net lending to households in April increased to €171m from €83m in March. On an annual basis, net lending to households was flat, following 10 months of negative growth.

The annual change in loans for house purchase declined by 0.3% in April.

Loans for other purposes declined by €48m in April. On an annual basis, these loans declined by 7.7%.