2023-06-30 12:02:58
Companies and families protect themselves from economic turmoil by cutting consumption and increasing savings despite the fact that spending has grown due to the inflationary crisis that, although it is moderating, is still having a strong impact on the pockets of the Spanish people. This is clear from the data published this Friday by the INE on the quarterly non-financial accounts of the institutional sectors.
Spanish households placed their savings rate in the first quarter of the year at 0.9% of their disposable income, compared to the negative rate of 1.5% that they experienced in the same period of 2022 for the first time in three years. Compared to the last quarter of 2022, the household savings rate has plummeted more than 13 points, from 14.5% to 0.9%.
In the first quarter, households spent less than they received. Thus, its disposable income increased by 10.1% year-on-year, to 202,347 million euros, while its consumption spending totaled 199,427 million euros, 7.4% more.
As a result of all this, households saved 1,869 million euros in the first quarter, compared to negative savings of 2,788 million euros in the same period of 2022.
If seasonal and calendar effects are eliminated, the household savings rate reached 11.8% of their disposable income in the first quarter, a rate 2.5 points higher than that of the previous quarter and the highest since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Less need for financing
Households could not finance the investment they made in the first quarter of the year with their savings, which amounted to 14,296 million (-15.4%), so they showed a need for financing of 12,936 million euros, the lowest figure since the first quarter of 2021 and 36.2% lower than that of the same quarter of 2022.
Between January and March of this year, the Spanish economy showed a financing capacity compared to the rest of the world of 13,083 million euros, a figure that is equivalent to 3.8% of GDP and that contrasts with the deficit of 0.9% of GDP that showed in the first quarter of 2022.
This result is a consequence of the financing capacity registered by non-financial companies and financial institutions, in contrast to the financing need shown by households and public administrations.
The latter registered a deficit of 2,203 million euros in the first quarter, a figure 3,862 million euros lower than that of the same period in 2022, when their financing needs reached 6,065 million euros.
Stripping out the seasonal and calendar effects, the net borrowing of public administrations reached 1.9% of GDP in the first quarter, a rate 5.7 points lower than that of the previous quarter.
For their part, financial institutions registered a financing capacity of 5,171 million euros between January and March, compared to 7,277 million a year earlier, while non-financial corporations showed a positive balance of 23,051 million euros, above of the 16,255 million in the same period last year.
The financing capacity of the Spanish economy compared to the rest of the world has reached historical highs up to 13,083 million euros in the first quarter of 2023, which represents 3.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for said period. In the same quarter of 2022, the need for financing was –2,822 million (-0.9% of GDP). Eliminating seasonal and calendar effects, the national economy registered a financing capacity of 6.3% of GDP between January and March of this year, which is 4.6 points more than in the previous quarter.
The INE estimates that the gross national income of the economy stood at 343,019 million euros in the first quarter, 9.9% higher than that of the same period in 2022, while the gross disposable national income amounted to 341,039 million euros , 10.4% more than in the previous year.
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