Savings booklet has record looting in January

Brasília – Brazilian families again drew resources from the savings booklet in January this year. Data from the Central Bank show that last month, net looting totaled R$ 12.356 billion. It was the largest volume of looting in a single month in the entire historical bc series, which began in January 1995. Withdrawals of resources are usually common in January. This is because many families call for money from the savings book let's face several expenses at the beginning of the year, such as paying the IPTU in many cities and spending on enrollment and school supplies of their children. In January, gross deposits totaled R$ 216.987 billion, while gross looting was R$ 229.344 billion. Thus, considering the net outflow of R$ 12.356 billion and the income of R$ 2.506 billion seen in the month, the total stock in the savings account reached R$ 835.615 billion at the end of January. In all of 2019, savings had recorded net deposits of R$ 13.327 billion. In January last year, net looting had been R$ 11.232 billion. In addition to the need for resources for households, the balance of the savings account has been influenced by the interest of a portion of investors for other applications. This is because, with the fall of Selic (the basic interest rate), savings remuneration has also been decreasing. Currently, savings are paid for by the reference rate (TR), which is at zero, plus 70% of Selic. Selic, in turn, is at 4.25% per year, at the lowest level in history. This remuneration rule is valid whenever Selic is below 8.50% per year. When above that, savings are updated by TR plus a fixed rate of 0.5% per month (6.17% per year).