The Bank of Thailand has revealed this week that 88 percent of all savings accounts in Thailand have less than THB50,000 (US$1,800) in them, while just one percent have savings of more than THB1 million (US$31,200).
The data, which was collected in April, doesn’t just show poor savings habits, but highlights a massive gap in wealth. The approximately 900,000 accounts with at least THB1 million in savings generally have far more than that.
In fact, those accounts combined are worth about THB5 trillion (yes, with a “t”). That’s worth more than the combined savings of the 73 million accounts with less than THB50k.
Meanwhile, about 3 million accounts have savings between THB50,000 and THB100,000, while 4 million accounts have THB100,000 to THB500,000, and nearly 1 million accounts have THB500,000 to THB1 million.
On the Facebook page for Smart SME, a business TV channel, most readers said the figures showed that a majority of Thais are barely getting by on their monthly salary.
Others suggested, however, that the low savings don’t necessarily reflect people’s actual financial status, positing that — due to low interest rates — many people turning their savings into investments, whether on the stock market or in assets such real estate, gold, diamonds, and so on.
