October 30th, 2009

Survey finds Hungarians struggling to save money

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About three-fourths of Hungarians say it is difficult to make savings in the current economic environment, and 20pc think it is not worth setting aside money today, a survey by GfK Hungaria commissioned by OTP Bank shows.

About 80pc of the thousand people surveyed said they thought making savings was important or very important. The majority of respondents said they lived frugally and just one in eight said they could make improvements in this area.

Just 3pc said they could save more in spite of the crisis. A little more than one-third said they were saving just as much as before the crisis.

About one-fourth of people with savings said they were saving with a concrete aim. The rest said they were saving in case they fell on hard times.

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  1. mike says:
    November 2, 2009 at 8:01 am

    “not worth setting aside money” – ah, you have to have the money
    before you can actually make that comment.

    The issue is that most Hungarians are dirt poor… working double
    jobs, if not triple, and trying to go to school. – How are most of
    them going to even afford heating this winter, let alone pay the
    loans on their houses…

    If your a western company [tesco] start paying what your supposed
    to pay and stop trying to get around the benefits as you do so well
    in this city. ;)

  2. wolfi says:
    November 2, 2009 at 9:26 am

    @mike:
    You’re absolutely correct – i wouldn’t have believed it, but I se my neighbours working really hard for the pitiful money they earn, so sometimes I want to tell the guys in Germany: stop whining, you don’t know how good you got it!

  3. Expat Hun says:
    November 2, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    @wolfi, the Krauts are whiners by definition, the lot of them, and they never had it too good, anyhow. In recent memory, the years 1941 through 1949 were particularly brutal for the Germans.

    @mike — yes. Before one could save anything, it would be exceedingly wonderful if one could buy new clothes, furniture, good good quality food on the table, and pay some of the world’s absolute most expensive utility costs.

    And for those Hunagarians who were thinking long and hard about getting out of Hungary for good — the getting-out days and options are probably not all that promising any more. No good.