Savings interest rates have fallen sharply but deposits remain high

Investment channels in stocks and real estate have not attracted cash flow back.

In recent times, the interest rates of many banks have decreased sharply. However, paradoxically, although interest rates have decreased, the amount of money deposited in banks is still maintained at a relatively high level.

Statistics from the State Bank show that as of October 2023, people's deposits in banks increased by VND422 billion compared to September, reaching more than VND6.44 million billion. This is the highest level ever.

Savings interest rates have fallen but deposits remain high image 1 — The amount of money deposited in banks is still increasing even though savings interest rates have dropped very low (Photo TL)

The reason is that many economic experts believe that investment channels such as stocks and real estate are no longer attractive and have many risks. The fact that deposit interest rates at banks have recently decreased sharply but the amount of deposits is still increasing shows that the cash flow is still cautious in shifting to other channels such as real estate or stocks...

In addition, production and business activities in 2024 are also forecasted to face many difficulties and challenges. The ability of enterprises to absorb credit capital remains low, bad debt tends to increase, the corporate bond market is sluggish, etc. These are all reasons why savings cannot be diverted to corresponding investment channels.

Savings deposits remain high, stock market less attractive?

Statistics released by the State Bank on January 15, 2024 showed that people continued to deposit money in banks throughout 2023. The total amount of money deposited in banks each month was always higher than the previous month, despite the record low interest rates applied by commercial banks.

Deposits in October 2023 increased by VND 789,659 billion compared to the same period. Compared to the end of 2022, deposits in October 2023 increased by 9.95%, equivalent to more than VND 583,800 billion.

Of which, the amount of deposits of economic organizations and enterprises, as of October 2023, reached 6.24 billion VND, an increase of more than 5% compared to the end of 2022. The above situation is contrary to the fluctuations of mobilization interest rates, which have now dropped very low, fluctuating from only 1.7% to 5.2%.

In the above context, it is undeniable that the Vietnamese stock market is still growing. It is recorded that in 2023, the VN-Index grew by 12.2%. However, if we look back at the VN30 group, the pillar of the market, there are 20/30 stocks in this group that decreased in price.

The common point of this group of large-cap stocks that have lost value is that they are mostly businesses that operate based on the demand of households in society.

For example, SAB of Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation has decreased from the price range of VND 93,000/share to just over VND 60,000/share, equivalent to a price decrease of more than 1/3 in 2023. While the time before Tet is always the time when the demand for alcohol and beer increases, SAB shares have not been able to rebound.

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