Prague, Dec 6 (CTK) – The financial situation of Czech households is markedly improving due to higher salaries, but they spend most of their money and do not increase their savings, daily Pravo wrote on Wednesday, referring to a survey carried out by the Erste Group and Ceska sporitelna banks.
Seven out of ten Czechs did not increase their regular savings in the past two or three years, the survey showed. Half of the people put aside the same sum as before and one fourth of them saved even less than before, the paper writes.
“The present good times and favourable prospects may lead a number of Czech households to higher spending, including the purchases of durable goods with long lifespan. One can see this as an effort of the Czech population to compensate limited spending in the years of recession, from 2012 to 2013,” Ceska sporitelna economist Michal Skorepa told Pravo.
On average, Czechs save about 2,200 crowns (88 euros) a month, the paper writes, citing the survey.
People in the neighbouring countries save more – the average monthly savings of an Austrian and a Slovak are 239 euros and 106 euros, respectively. On the other hand, Hungarians and Romanians save 53 euros monthly.
At the end of the economic crisis in 2012, the average monthly savings of people in Central and East European countries were 76 euros, while Czechs saved 83 euros a month. This year, Czechs saved 88 euros a month, while the monthly average savings in Central and East Europe were 91 euros.
This means that the average spendings grew by 6 percent in the Czech Republic, but the average pay rise was 19 percent over the past five year, Pravo writes.
In comparison, Austrians increased their monthly savings by over 40 percent, Romanians by 36 percent and Slovaks by over 20 percent, according to the survey.
Although Czechs do not save more money, 43 percent of them said their financial situation improved over the last two years. In other countries in the region, this figure was considerably lower. An improvement of their financial situation was admitted by 33 percent of people in Romania, 30 percent of Slovaks, 23 percent in Hungary.
