In the first half of the year, household deposits increased by more than 10 trillion yuan. Why do Chinese people prefer to save money?

　　China News Service, July 13 Question:

　　China-Singapore Finance reporter Li Jinlei

　　There are two sets of data recently, which gives people a feeling: Chinese people are more willing to save money.

Household deposits in the first half of the year increased by over 10 trillion yuan

　　According to data released by the central bank on the 11th, RMB deposits increased by 18.82 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 4.77 trillion yuan year-on-year.

Among them, household deposits increased by 10.33 trillion yuan, non-financial corporate deposits increased by 5.3 trillion yuan, fiscal deposits increased by 506.1 billion yuan, and non-banking financial institution deposits increased by 951.3 billion yuan.

In June, RMB deposits increased by 4.83 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 974.1 billion yuan.

　　In the first half of the year, household deposits increased by 10.33 trillion yuan. What is the concept?

This means that in the first half of the year, an average of about 57.1 billion deposits flocked to banks every day.

　　From a vertical perspective, household deposits increased by 7.45 trillion yuan in the first half of 2021, 8.33 trillion yuan in the first half of 2020, 6.82 trillion yuan in the first half of 2019, and 4.26 trillion in the first half of 2018. Yuan.

In other words, the increase in household deposits in the first half of 2022 hit a new high for the same period in recent years.

From the central bank website

58.3% of residents tend to "save more"

　　According to the survey report on urban savers in the second quarter of 2022 released by the central bank, 23.8% of residents tended to "consume more", an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter; 58.3% of residents tended to "save more", compared to the previous quarter. It increased by 3.6 percentage points in the last quarter; residents who tended to “invest more” accounted for 17.9%, a decrease of 3.7 percentage points from the previous quarter.

　　That is to say, the number of people willing to save more has increased substantially, and the number of people willing to invest more has decreased.

　　In the first half of the year, household deposits have grown significantly, and the willingness to save in the future has increased, which makes friends ask: Why do people prefer to save money?

Chinese people prefer to save money

　　Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Union Finance, told Chinanews.com's "China New Observation" column that there are many reasons for the substantial increase in residents' deposits and the increased willingness to save, including both short-term and long-term factors.

　　Dong Ximiao pointed out that from the perspective of short-term factors, it is mainly the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

Since March this year, the epidemic situation in my country has been spreading in many places, some enterprises have difficulty in normal production and operation, and unstable and uncertain factors have increased, which has led to an increase in residents' motives for precautionary savings.

　　At the same time, affected by the shocks of the international financial market since the beginning of this year, the volatility of my country's capital market has intensified, and the returns of stocks and funds have dropped significantly. In particular, the bank's wealth management products have "broken net", which has led to a decline in residents' risk appetite, and some funds have flowed back to deposits. .

　　Political commissar Lu, chief economist of Industrial Bank, said in the research report that the experience in 2020 shows that the epidemic will lead to an increase in the year-on-year growth rate of household deposits, and the year-on-year growth rate of deposits will remain at a relatively high level for a period of time.

　　Dong Ximiao believes that, as the main force of consumption, the young and middle-aged groups, in addition to their advantages in income, also face life pressures such as "the old and the young".

Residents' uncertain expectations for future income and expenditure have increased, which has significantly enhanced residents' awareness of prevention and their willingness to save.

In addition, with the strengthening of the real estate market regulation, residents' willingness to consume housing continued to decline, reducing housing consumption expenditure, and part of it was converted into residents' deposits.

Data map: Bank money counters are at work.

Photo by Ai Qinglong

How can we stimulate consumption?

　　Saving more has advantages and disadvantages.

　　Dong Ximiao said that the continuous increase in household deposits has improved the resilience of my country's economic development and strengthened the ability of the household sector to resist risks, but it also reflects the weakening of residents' expectations for the future, insufficient consumer demand, and declining investment willingness.

In the next step, targeted measures should be taken to stabilize residents' expectations and confidence, and further boost residents' consumption and investment.

　　He suggested that the "nine prohibitions" requirements of the National Health Commission should be strictly implemented, the relationship between epidemic prevention and control and economic growth should be balanced, the impact of epidemic prevention and control on the economy and people's livelihood should be minimized, and the expectations of enterprises and residents should be stabilized.

Further stabilize the macroeconomic market.

To implement a series of policies and measures to stabilize the economy introduced earlier, fiscal and monetary policies should be more active and proactive, and continue to help market players relieve difficulties and restore the real economy steadily, stabilize residents' employment, and increase residents' income.

　　Dong Ximiao pointed out that it is necessary to boost residents' willingness and ability to consume.

Continue to unleash the potential of the domestic market, take active and effective measures to solve the problem of insufficient consumption motivation of residents, improve the consumption environment of residents, cultivate growth points for mid-to-high-end consumption, expand the consumption of durable consumer goods such as automobiles, and promote the transformation and upgrading of residents' consumption.

We will further implement differentiated housing credit policies, reasonably manage credit issuance, and better meet residents' demand for self-occupied and improved housing purchases.

　　In the long run, Dong Ximiao suggested that the full-coverage social security system should be further improved to better meet the urgent needs of residents in terms of pension, medical treatment, education, etc., so as to reduce residents' worries and thus reduce their willingness to save preventively.

　　At present, all localities are also trying to stimulate consumption, and boosting consumption of automobiles and real estate has become an important starting point.

　　In terms of promoting car consumption, in addition to reducing the purchase tax, many places have also provided real money subsidies to stimulate people to buy cars.

In terms of stimulating real estate consumption, many places have announced to relax restrictions on purchases and sales, reduce the down payment ratio, and a considerable number of cities will also issue housing subsidies.

In addition, many places have also stimulated consumption by issuing consumer coupons. For example, Beijing has issued 100 million yuan of catering consumer coupons online and offline since July.

(Finish)