Johannesburg - The household industry deposit growth increased to 14.93 percent in March, compared to the 14.27 percent in March 2014, Standard Bank said on Wednesday.
Nolene Parboo, Standard Bank Senior Manager: Deposits, Retail Banking said that this improvement in the household industry deposit showed that South Africans were starting to save.
“The South African economy and consumer at the halfway mark of 2015 will show that both are in urgent need of care. The economy is struggling to eke out even two percent growth, unemployment is up to 26 percent,” Parboo said.
She said this was positive news for a nation that is known for its poor attitude towards saving money in general.
The bank said that in the 12 months leading up to March 2015, the average year-on-year growth was 15.48 percent compared to 10.25 percent during the same period in the previous year.
Parboo said that although consumers were making the effort to save, the reality was that households in general were struggling to allocate a certain amount of their income into savings. She added that the bulk of the savings were from the corporate sector.
“People know that they have to save but it’s difficult, consumers want to be forced to save for example via debit orders,” she said.
Banks have seen an increase in people showing a saving trend as they showed interest in saving from the beginning of the year for things they would need during or later on in the year.
“There is lack of discipline and commitment during the cause of the year,” Parboo said.
Parboo added that people needed to cut out small costs like buying an extra cup of coffee, and realising that you save more money by paying expenses like school fees upfront.
“Tax free savings is slowly developing into the market, providing the benefit of saving done over a long period of time….parents need to be taught how to save in order for them to teach their children to start saving at a young age,” Parboo emphasised.
ANA