Image: OÖN / Johannes Zinner
Austrians’ net disposable income rose by a nominal 10.9 percent to 250.3 billion euros last year. In real terms, i.e. taking inflation into account, it was 3.3 percent.
According to calculations by the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), the financial assets of private households have also lost significant real value. After nominal financial assets fell to 822 billion euros in 2022 (2021: 844 billion euros), they rose to 838 billion in the first half of 2023. If inflation is taken as a basis, the losses were ten percent in 2022 and seven percent in the first half of 2023.
“High inflation and limited return potential from savings products recently caused a real loss of wealth for private households,” said Johannes Turner, director of the OeNB’s statistics department, at a press conference yesterday.
The backbone is private consumption: 229 billion euros, or around 91 percent of income, are spent on it. “Consumption has reached a record high and is therefore a key supporting factor for the economy,” said National Bank Deputy Governor Gottfried Haber. “The savings rate has fallen to 9.2 percent, more or less back to pre-pandemic levels.” This year the savings rate is expected to fall to 7.9 percent.
Let’s talk about the euro!
The Governor of the OeNB, Robert Holzmann, will discuss these and other topics on November 8th at the OÖN event “Red’ma about the Euro!” talk: There is the opportunity to discuss the euro, interest rates, the future of cash and the history of our currency with Austria’s highest monetary authority. Starts at 5 p.m. (doors open at 4:30 p.m.). Register at nachrichten.at/nationalbank
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