A new report from the Chinese central bank indicates that nearly half of depositors surveyed want to increase their savings.
The “2019 First Quarter Urban Depositor Survey Report”(2019年第一季度城镇储户问卷调查报告) released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on 22 March indicates that 25.9% of those surveyed were inclined towards “greater consumption,” for a decline of 2.8 percentage points compared to the preceding quarter.
45.0% of survey respondents indicated that they wanted to save more, for an on-quarter increase of 0.9 percentage points, while 29.2% hope to invest more, for a rise of 1.9 percentage points.
The top three investment choices included “banking, securities and insurance company wealth management products,” preferred by 50.1% of survey respondents; “fund trust products,” selected by 20.4% of respondents, and shares (17.2%).
With regard to which areas respondents plan to increase expenditures over the next three months, 30.6% said education, 29.7% said travel, 26.2% said medical treatment, 21.5% said home purchasing, 20.8% said expensive consumer goods, 17.1% said social interaction, culture and entertainment, and 15.2% said insurance.
The report’s price expectation index for the next quarter is 60.4%, for a decline of 3.9 percentage points compared to the preceding quarter, with 26.8% of respondents anticipating an increase in prices, 54.6% expecting them to remain unchanged, and 8.1% seeing a decline.
25.8% of respondents expect housing prices to rise next quarter, while 52.7% see them remaining fundamentally unchanged.
