Many around the world like to have a little money stowed away in a bank account for a rainy day, but rapidly rising prices and the end of coronavirus restrictions in the Netherlands mean that families and households are spending more, resulting in less money going into savings accounts. 

The Netherlands saved 11 billion euros in Q1

During the coronavirus pandemic, Dutch households put away an extra 22 billion euros. But after the final COVID-19 restrictions came to an end in the spring, people across the country have once again been spending more money on holidays and various outings - meaning that a smaller proportion of their salaries is going into savings. 

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that, in the first quarter of 2022, households saved approximately 11 billion euros - significantly less than the 19,7 billion euros that were saved in the same period in 2021. Consumer spending, on the other hand, was considerably higher, with households spending over 97 billion euros between January and March of this year. 

Consumer spending on the up due to rising cost of living

Rising prices across various sectors - including food and energy - have also impacted savings on a large scale; while household savings are similar to pre-pandemic levels, consumer spending was over 10 billion euros higher in the first three months of 2022 than in the same period in 2021. 

“The fact that spending is now higher is not only because people buy more products and services, but also because life has become a lot more expensive,” says Peter Hein van Mulligen, chief economist at CBS. “However, the fact that people were left with more money in 2021 is due to the fact that people were able to spend less money due to coronavirus restrictions.”