site.btaBulgaria Ranks 35th among 57 Countries in Household Financial Assets per Capita - Allianz Global Wealth Report

Bulgaria ranks 35th among 57 countries in terms of both net and gross financial assets of households per capita in 2023, which amounted to EUR 16,410 and EUR 20,280, respectively, according to the Global Wealth Report 2024 published by Munich-headquartered financial services company Allianz. The financial assets of Bulgarian households grew by 5.8% in 2023 following an aggregate increase by over 40% in the previous two years, the report says.

The Allianz Global Wealth Report analyzes financial assets held by private households, i.e., cash and bank deposits, receivables from insurance companies and pension institutions, securities (shares, bonds and investment funds) and other receivables, and liabilities incurred by households. It is based on data from 57 countries. This group of countries covers 91% of global GDP and 72% of the global population.

The "return to normal" in Bulgaria was due mainly to the securities segment, which grew by just 1.5% in 2023, the lowest growth in 12 years. The other two types of financial assets showed a steady increase: bank deposits went up by 11.2%, and receivables from insurance companies and pension institutions increased by 17.5%. The latter category plays a secondary role in the portfolio of Bulgarian households, with a share of 10%.

Fresh savings in securities held by Bulgarian private households plummeted to EUR 0.7 billion in 2023 from EUR 5.4 billion in 2022, with bonds being the only kind of securities bought in 2023. Households doubled their fresh bank deposit money to EUR 4.4 billion and "rediscovered" insurance/pension savings: after withdrawing money in 2022, they invested EUR 2.1 billion in 2023. Overall, in keeping with the global trend, Bulgarians' fresh savings dropped by 21% to EUR 7.2 billion.

Adjusted for inflation, Bulgarian households' financial assets fell by 2.6% in 2023. However, the purchasing power of financial assets grew by 24.4% at the end of 2023 compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019. Real estate assets continued to increase steeply and went up by 9.9%, unaffected by the reversal in interest rates, Allianz says.

Globally, financial assets of private households recorded strong growth in 2023 against the backdrop of resilient economies and booming markets despite monetary tightening, according to the executive summary of the report. The normalization of fresh savings continued after the pandemic-related boom years of forced savings. The rise in interest rates had a clear impact on the liabilities side of private households' balance sheets in 2023: growth in private debt weakened further to +4.1% worldwide, the lowest growth in nine years. In contrast to financial assets, real estate assets developed weakly in 2023: at 1.8%, the lowest growth in 10 years was recorded.