The four-quarter savings ratio fell only slightly from 8%, a ten-year high, at the end of September 2015, and was up from 6% at the end of 2015. Household savings were boosted last year by the compensation retail borrowers received from banks under the 2014 debt relief law.  

The figures were revised down by HUF 44 billion or 0.1 of a percentage point of GDP from the first reading released on February 17.

Settlement of the compensation under the debt relief act raised householdsʼ financing capacity by about HUF 500 bln in the first quarter of 2015, and raised it, although far less significantly, in the second and third quarters as well, the MNB said.

The conversion of FX retail loans into forints, which also happened last year, did not affect the financing capacity of households, although it significantly changed the currency composition of their liabilities thus removing considerable foreign currency risk, the MNB noted.