Belgian households slash savings intentions in October

Oct 21 (Reuters) – Belgian households have slashed their plans to save in October and private consumers’ financial expectations remain low, according to data released on Friday by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB).

An index of household saving intentions fell further to a balance of -11 in October, after tumbling the previous month to -5, the NBB said.

Belgian consumer confidence in October matched the extremely low level recorded in September, with the index unchanged at -27 points, close to levels seen in April 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and in March this year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Households are still extremely concerned, although somewhat less pessimistic about the general economic outlook for Belgium over the next twelve months,” the NBB said.

Belgian households are worried by the spike in energy prices as winter approaches, as well as rapid rates of inflation, which sped up to 11.27% year-on-year in September – the fastest rate of price growth since August 1975.

(Reporting by Dina Kartit and Diana Mandiá; Editing by Hugh Lawson)