FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Despite strong efforts to save, the financial assets of private households in Germany grew only slowly last year. They grew at a below-average rate of just under 2 percent to almost 8 trillion euros, according to an analysis by the cooperative DZ Bank presented in Frankfurt on Monday. In the years 2020 and 2021, which were dominated by Corona, private financial assets had grown much faster - by 6.7 percent and 8.5 percent respectively.

The share price losses following the outbreak of the Ukraine war could not be fully recovered in the course of 2022. However, DZ economist Michael Stappel expects the economic recovery to begin next spring and energy price-driven inflation to gradually subside.

The Russian attack on Ukraine and the associated price increases dashed hopes that people would be able to catch up on their deferred consumption wishes from the Corona period. Instead, the consumer climate slumped and consumers still put aside a comparatively large amount of money despite the high prices for energy and food. DZ Bank expects the savings rate to be a good 11 percent in 2022, slightly higher than the pre-crisis year of 2019, when it was 10.8 percent.

According to the economists, the high inflation of 8.7 percent on average for the year also puts the return of interest rates into positive territory into perspective. Although private individuals can now expect permanently positive nominal interest rates for new investments again following the recent interest rate hikes, these are being devalued by inflation at the same time and to an increasing extent.

"The longer the phase of high inflation with significantly lower interest rates lasts, the higher the loss of purchasing power of financial assets will be, which will add up over time," warns DZ-Bank. Very high inflation thus becomes a problem not only for real income growth, but also for asset accumulation. As a result, households would have to set aside an even higher proportion of their disposable income in order to achieve their savings targets./ceb/DP/zb