Pandemic widens gap between rich and poor

Despite national figures showing more people managed to save during the pandemic, the local branch of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) reports that it is as busy as ever.

Figures from the Central Bank show the outstanding amount of household deposits at the end of November were the highest on record, standing at €124 billion.

Deposits from households recorded a net inflow of €706 million in the same month. In annual terms, lodgements exceeded withdrawals by €13.4 billion, or 12.2 per cent – the highest annual increase in household deposits seen since the Central Bank started analysing these trends.

Bank deposits jumped to €5.3 billion in the three months until the end of June, compared to €2 billion for the same quarter before the pandemic in 2019.

Some households saved on the cost of childcare, commuting and eating out while maintaining their income.

“Whilst we see the savings and deposits increasing for the household sector as a whole, it is important to recognise that not all households are likely to be saving,” remarked David Walley in the Communications Division of the Central Bank.

During the first lockdown in the second quarter of 2020, four out of every ten workers in the State were on some form of Pandemic-related income support. Some 23 per cent were on Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and 17 per cent were supported by wage subsidies.

Figures for Galway are the same: four in ten were availing of Pandemic supports in Quarter 2, 2020.  The latest PUP data for Galway published on January 19 shows just over 24,000 availing of supports.

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