Despite the impact of inflation on family budgets and company balance sheets, the people of Alicante continue to reduce the amount of your debts Last year with banks. Of course, unlike during the pandemic and even last year, this time they also didn’t have much money left to continue fattening their salaries. existing accountsbarely growing.
This is at least inferred from the latest quarterly balance sheet published by . Bank of Spaininvolving the evolution of both outstanding loan balanceas of deposit Until last September, provincial branches were owned by individuals and companies. Some data reflecting the situation of the people of Alicante they continued to improve their financial situation In this period, thanks to the strengthening of the labor market and the recovery of economic activities, although less intense than in the previous year.
By creditCompanies and individuals between September 2022 and the same month of 2023 They managed to reduce their debt by almost 2.6 billion lira The total volume of the amount owed to organizations in Euro reached 29 billion 888 million Euros. Although this is a smaller decrease than the previous twelve months, when the state’s outstanding loan balance fell by 3.555 million, it is still a significant amount given the economic environment.
Additionally, the amount outstanding – i.e. 29.888 million – The lowest debt figure in the last 20 years and was almost half as much as what Alicante residents owed when the real estate bubble burst, according to the comptroller’s data.
A development that has a lot to do with the rate increases approved by the ECB. “Families preferred to allocate their savings to expenses” pay off mortgages and other loans early to prevent an increase in fees,” explains the president of the Valencian Consumers and Users Association. Fernando Moner. So, when it comes to home loans alone, total cancellations have skyrocketed by 18% in the last two years, according to a recent report from INE.
An early repayment policy is also implemented by the best-positioned companies, but this also means they do not encourage new investment, which could disrupt operations in the coming months.
In any case, this decrease in loan balances is not specific to Alicante: at the national level there was a decrease of almost 41 million in the same period.
recording
Unlike what happened in the previous twelve months, when the people of Alicante, in addition to reducing their debts, inflated their accounts to 1.583 million, data until September 2023 show that in this case the income is not enough. Thus, the volume of money held by individuals and companies in branches at the end of the third quarter 36,270 million euros, 65 million more than a year agoThis represents an increase of just 0.017%.
The real innovation in this part is the distribution of these savings, because savings are increasing again after years when they virtually disappeared from the market. term deposits. Especially in September, the people of Alicante 3.755 million In this type of products more than double that of a year ago, but when they reached 1.539 million. Of course, this still represents a minimal portion of total savings, as the vast majority of the money (up to 32.515 million) is still in checking accounts and the like.
Moreover, no one expects them to regain the importance they once had; because a large part of this increase is offers from foreign banks and neobanks Large organizations – those that operate online – continue to resist offering them, at least in general, he notes Antonio Gallardo, expert at financial comparator Banqmi (iAhorro). As if this wasn’t enough, with Euribor starting to fall, even these institutions started to reduce their profitability rates, which rose above 3.5% in the summer months.
And as Gallardo explained, organizations have plenty of liquidity right now, so they don’t need to compete for customers’ money as they do at other times.
From mandatory savings to precautionary savings
Financial sector expert Antonio Gallardo points out that the perspective has changed among savers. Although account balances have grown due to the inability to spend money during the pandemic years, considering the restrictions imposed on social life, it is noteworthy that there has been an increase in savings in the sector in recent months due to “precautions”. “. That is, the uncertainty regarding the economic situation is beginning to negatively affect the minds of many citizens, especially considering the increase in spending recorded by domestic economies along with inflation. Although the increase in prices was offset by the amounts accumulated in the pandemic in the first months of last year – which allowed consumption to increase – now, after this cushion has been exhausted, it no longer does so.Avacu president Fernando Móner recalls that not all families were able to save, and also part of the population saw their purchasing power immediately fall with the pandemic.