The latest Nationwide UK (Ireland)/ESRI Savings Index has been released today. The index measures overall sentiment towards saving.

The index fell to its lowest point in more than a year in December, as the number of people who felt positive about their ability to save dropped.
 
In terms of consumers’ intentions for spending any surplus money, 46.6% of respondents said they would use any surplus to pay off debts, compared to 43.4% in November.

The number of people who said they would spend surplus cash dropped to 8.1%, from 12.7% the prior month, while 10% said they would invest it. 
 
Managing Director of Nationwide UK (Ireland), Brendan Synnott said, "It’s clear that consumers felt pressurised to spend in the Christmas period and this has had a negative impact on their ability to save surplus cash. This trend is particularly noticeable among the younger demographic, who seemingly felt the Christmas squeeze more than older respondents.

"An array of data late last year pointed to a sustained upturn in the economy, which helped feed positive sentiment and spending behaviour in the run-up to the Christmas period. What will be interesting to see moving forward is how the budget, introduced late last year, will impact spending behaviour among Irish consumers in 2016 and how the upturn may encourage confidence in saving."
 
Source: www.businessworld.ie