The total savings of Dominicans in the financial intermediation entities supervised by the Superintendency of Banks (SB) amounted to 2.1 billion pesos at the end of 2021, equivalent to about 40% of nominal gross domestic product (GDP).
According to a press release from the Superintendency of Banksdeposits experienced an increase of 271 million pesos, which represents a growth of 17.3% over the past year.
The data comes from the second half-yearly report Trends in savings in the Dominican Republic: Perspective from the deposits of the financial systempublished by the SB.
According to the analysis, this increase in deposits “ratifies confidence in the financial system and makes national savings one of the main engines of economic recovery, after the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Savings instruments
When disaggregating the deposits of the system by type of instrument, it is observed that the 43.8% of total balance is placed in savings accounts, followed by securities held by the public and current accounts, whose share of total deposits amounts to 21.4% and 21.3% respectively. Time deposits represented 13.5%.
Funding from the public continues to be the main source of economic resources for carrying out financial intermediation activities, representing 85.2% of the system’s total liabilities.
Multiple banks concentrate andl 89.3% of total deposits (1.91 billion pesos). The rest is distributed in 8.8% of savings and loan associations, 1.6% of savings and credit banks, while credit corporations and public financial intermediation entities have 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively.
At the end of last December, deposits in foreign currency represented a 29.7% of the total, a value considered stable within its historical fluctuation range, said the SB. In this line, the domination of the American dollarwith a participation of 97.9%, leaving in second place the eurowith 2.1%.
The regions This and Metropolitana were the ones with the highest year-on-year increase at the end of December 2021with an expansion of 21% and 20%, respectively, followed by the North and South regions with growth rates of 11% and 9% each.
The report identifies households as the main category of depositors in the financial system, with values accumulated in the order of 1,162 billion pesos (54% of the total), followed by companies with 509 billion pesosequivalent to 24%.
