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China’s High Savings: Drivers, Prospects, and Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Ms. Longmei Zhang
  • Mr. R. Brooks
  • Ding Ding
  • Haiyan Ding
  • Hui He
  • Jing Lu
  • Rui Mano

Abstract

China’s high national savings rate—one of the highest in the world—is at the heart of its external/internal imbalances. High savings finance elevated investment when held domestically, or lead to large external imbalances when they flow abroad. Today, high savings mostly emanate from the household sector, resulting from demographic changes induced by the one-child policy and the transformation of the social safety net and job security that occured during the transition from planned to market economy. Housing reform and rising income inequality also contribute to higher savings. Moving forward, demographic changes will put downward pressure on savings. Policy efforts in strengthening the social safety net and reducing income inequality are also needed to reduce savings further and boost consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Ms. Longmei Zhang & Mr. R. Brooks & Ding Ding & Haiyan Ding & Hui He & Jing Lu & Rui Mano, 2018. "China’s High Savings: Drivers, Prospects, and Policies," IMF Working Papers 2018/277, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/277
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Han, Xuehui & Cheng, Yuan, 2020. "Consumption- and productivity-adjusted dependency ratio with household structure heterogeneity in China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    2. Mr. Pragyan Deb & Albe Gjonbalaj & Mrs. Swarnali A Hannan, 2019. "The Drivers, Implications and Outlook for China’s Shrinking Current Account Surplus," IMF Working Papers 2019/244, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Rui Mano & Jiayi Zhang, 2018. "China’s Rebalancing: Recent Progress, Prospects and Policies," IMF Working Papers 2018/243, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Niu, Geng & Zhou, Yang & Gan, Hongwu, 2020. "Financial literacy and retirement preparation in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).

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