Australians have finally learned how to consolidate debts, reduce spending and start saving. Some years ago we were amongst the nations with the lowest levels of savings and now we are amongst the best savers.
An OECD ranking of household savings rates places Australia at number 5 from the 23 countries surveyed, with 10.4 per cent of household disposable income going into savings in 2011.
Switzerland has come up as the country with the highest annual rate of saving, with a savings rate of 12.1 per cent in 2011, followed by Sweden (11.7 per cent), Germany (11.3 per cent) and Belgium (10.7 per cent).
Back in 2006, before we were affected by the GFC, Australian household savings rate was 2.1 per cent. Its OECD ranking that year was 16th.
OECD economists are expecting that Australian households will maintain their high savings rate. The forecast for the current year is 10.3 per cent and for 2013 the expected rate is 10.5 per cent.