Saving 'catching on'
July is coming to and end and the SA Savings Institute says the month dubbed 'savings month' has been a well-used period to encourage South Africans to save.
The campaign, which encourages people to get into the culture of putting away, is now in its 10th year and organisers say the idea of prioritizing putting some pennies aside for a rainy day has caught on.
READ: Citizens urged to save during Savings Month
The institute's Gerald Mwandiambira says the campaign's footprint spread to social media platforms as saving became trendier and that two major banks have asked to jump on board.
He says as the perception of saving is changing, they now want to assist in reducing household debt.
"Hopefully we can start reducing the household debt to income ratio from 72.5 per cent to something that's more manageable. Even as we talk the Brics summit now, SA has by far the worst savings ratio," Mwandiambira says, "For us as a savings institute, these matters have brought savings to the fore because suddenly people are starting to realise had they had been savings, they would have something to fall back on. So we do see South Africans' attitudes and behavior with regards to saving, changing".