Chart, banks : deposits continue to fall up country

The negative trend for the banks deposits up country (Bangkok excluded) continues.

Here is an update of my chart, with january figures (source BOT).

Left scale, amount of deposits in commercial banks (in millions THB, per month), right scale the % of growth, year on year.

The total was down 8,4 % in january, compare to january 2007.

In value, we have to go back to november… 2005 to find a lower figure..

As you can see on the chart, there is a continuous growth until january 2007… since then we are going down.

What to think about it ? Two views :
-thai people up country feel confident, they reduce their savings in order to consume and invest, are more “financial savvy” so they use their savings to buy stocks etc.

-inflation is hurting, incomes remain flat… therefore purchase power decreases, therefore people up country reduce their savings to cope with… day to day expenses.

I favor the latest…