Two thirds of Slovaks are not protecting themselves against inflation in any way, according to a survey carried out by the Ipsos Agency in cooperation with a company called CapitalPanda. The survey's organizers view increased investing in mutual funds and shares as good news adding that Slovaks who want to protect their savings are still relatively conservative in investing their available money, noted the survey report.
As many as one in three Slovaks is significantly feeling the current growth in consumer prices, while an additional 28% view the price growth as a problem for their family budget,
Some 64% of the respondents are skeptical about future developments. Slovaks expect inflation to grow even further in 2022, devaluing their savings, but they are not defending themselves against this effectively enough.
"For example, one third of Slovaks deposit their money in savings accounts with interest rates close to zero, and more than 13% use investment life insurance, which brings only minimal yields due to high fees," stated the survey's organizers.
According to survey, eight in ten Slovaks expect inflation to lower their incomes next year. Almost 34% of the respondents are counting on salary increases but do not think they will match inflation. More than one third of Slovaks expect to have the same salary as this year, i.e. their real incomes will be lowered by the inflation rate. Meanwhile, almost 9% expect their incomes to decrease next year.
The survey also revealed that Slovaks trust cryptocurrencies much more than Czechs. As many as 11.4% of Slovak respondents invest their savings in them, while only 5.9% of Czechs do the same. "Conversely, we do not differ from our western neighbour in investing in traditional assets, such as real estate and gold, which are considered to be stable. Slovaks invest 16.9% of their savings in investment real estate and 9% in gold," states the report. For comparison, Czechs invest 15% of their savings in real estate and 11% in gold.
The survey was carried out among 315 respondents from Slovakia and 315 from the Czech Republic.
