Locking money away barely worthwhile in the Netherlands

The Dutch love saving money: the majority of the population saves at least part of their income every month and the total amount of personal savings in the country increases annually. But to what extent is saving money these days really worthwhile? The inflation rate in the Netherlands in 2016 was 0.3 percent, whereas the highest interest offered for fixed-term saving accounts with a maturity of 12 months was only 0.9 percent. Even when locking away money for 20 years, customers in the Netherlands receive no more than 1.90 percent interest per year. And even though the interest on saving deposits is not yet negative, banks in the Netherlands have already announced that they cannot rule out this happening in the near future.