NATIONAL SAVINGS IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25089, 22 January 1947, Page 8

NATIONAL SAVINGS IN BRITAIN

WITHDRAWALS EXCEED INVESTMENTS

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 9.45 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 21. For the first time in the history of the national savings movement in Britain, the amount paid out in interest and redeemed certificates has exceeded new investments. During the first nine months of the present financial year payments’ exceeded receipts by £9,400.000. It also revealed that Post Office Savings Bank deposits show a similar trend, and that at present the amount being collected in small savings—national savings certificates, defence bonds, and Post Office and trustee savings banks—is only about h=lf the target figures. The total amount collected in small savings during the last nine months has been £813.000.000. but repayments amounted to £622.000.000, leaving net savings of £191,000,000. If withdrawals continue at the present rate the amount of new money collected by the Chancellor of the Exchequer during the present financial year will be less than £250.000.000, or half the target figure.

The acceleration of .withdrawals was first noted last spring, when it was attributed to the holiday demand for cash, but it has continued ever since It is considered that a substantial proportion of the withdrawals is being made by returned servicemen who are using the money to set up their own homes.