Irish households stockpile €170bn in savings as experts warn inflation is eroding returns

Irish households are saving at near-pandemic levels, but experts warn inflation and poor returns are quietly eating away wealth

€1 in every €7 earned in Ireland is now being saved by households, underpinned by rising income and a fall in consumption.

Irish households are saving money at a rate not seen since the pandemic-induced highs of the early 2020s with recent data showing the savings rate hitting the highest levels since the middle of 2022. However, much of that money languishes in deposit accounts which offer little in the way of returns for customers as inflation erodes its value.

Recently released figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that Irish households are continuing to add to their deposit accounts with the savings rate rising to almost 15% between July and September, up 2% from the previous quarter.