JE consulted the best offer from a total of 16 banks, considering the most profitable proposals for six and 12 months for applications with a minimum investment of, at most, five thousand euros.
The cut in interest rates on deposits means that there are now few savings products with returns above inflation, according to a work published this Friday in JE.
Thus, Savings Certificates stole the spotlight from term deposits in the first half of last year, but since the cut in rates they have lost their attractiveness among Portuguese families. Applications marketed by banks once again led to savings thanks to attractive rates, which, however, are no longer so. Interest rates have been falling and are expected to continue to fall in the coming months, given the expected rate cut by the European Central Bank (ECB). Achieving a real return, above inflation, is a challenge and will be even more so from now on.
Banks, which automatically reflected the rise in ECB rates in the interest rates on housing loans, were slow to increase interest rates on term deposits. They ended up raising them, also in reaction to competition from State products, but the average rate only reached 3.1% in December 2023. Since then, the trend has been to lower the interest rates offered on this, which is the main product. savings of the Portuguese. According to data from the Bank of Portugal, the average rate fell to 2.92% in January, fell again to 2.81% in February and is expected to continue to fall.
This decline is noticeable when consulting the interest rate websites and price lists of the various financial institutions in the national market. Jornal Económico (JE) consulted the best offer from a total of 16 banks, considering the most profitable proposals for six and 12 months for applications with a minimum investment of, at most, 5,000 euros.
