The household saving rate in the euro area was at 16.9% in the first quarter of 2020 compared with 12.7% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
This was the highest increase since the beginning of the series in 1999.
The household investment rate in the euro area was 8.7% in the first quarter of 2020, lower than the rate of 9.1% during the previous quarter.
These data come from a first release of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union and the European Central Bank (ECB).
The quarterly increase of the household saving rate of 4.2 percentage points is related to 0.9% increase of gross disposable income and 4.0% decline in individual consumption expenditure of households.
The quarterly decline of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter is explained by 3.2% decline in gross fixed capital formation and 0.9% increase of gross disposable income.
