Irish households saved an extra €1.2bn in 2016

Household saving patterns have continued to grow, with pay income increasing in excess of expenditure.

Estimates for 2016 released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicate gross saving in the household sector have increased by €1.2 billion to €11.7 billion.

The gross saving ratio of households – saving as a percentage of total gross disposable income – increased from 10.7 per cent in 2015 to 11.5 per cent last year.

Gross saving for the economy as a whole was 13 per cent greater than in 2015, rising from €81.3 billion to €92.1 billion.

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The net lending figure is down from €24.9 billion to €7.5 billion, including large purchases of intellectual property from abroad by corporations.

The gross saving of government was €3.6 billion in 2016, up from €2.58 billion the previous year. Main contributors were an increase of €1.3 billion in taxes on products and an increase of €1.2 billion in taxes on income and wealth.

This increase in gross saving of €1 billion contributed to the net borrowing of the government (after capital investment is accounted for) falling from €4.7 billion in 2015 to €1.3 billion in 2016.