The mainland's household savings jumped 17.8 per cent to top a record 8.7 trillion yuan (HK$8.1 trillion) last year, with average per capita disposable income rising to 7,500 yuan, a 10 per cent rise over 2001, state media reported yesterday.
Urban household assets also rose to an average of 228,000 yuan, while urban financial assets rose to an average of 80,000 yuan, Xinhua quoted the State Council's Development Research Centre as saying.
While state media trumpeted the statistics as good news, economists reacted cautiously to the report.
'On the surface the rise of household savings is good news,' said Hu Bingliang, an economics professor and research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 'But in reality, it may not be good news.'
Though the rise in household income helps the mainland's four large, troubled state banks - which hold most of the deposits - the increased savings also mean that consumers do not have investment alternatives other than putting money in the bank.
'The stock market isn't trustworthy,' Mr Hu said in reference to insider-trading and false reporting being the rule rather than the exception in mainland equity markets. 'Many people also feel insecure - they don't feel confident in the government's efforts to set up a social security system. So they're saving money.