Discrepancy between Saving Rates in SNA and Family Income and Expenditure Survey and Its Implications

Discrepancy between saving rates in the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) has been resolved using newly available statistics. While the known factors such as differences in coverage and definition of savings explain around 70% of the discrepancy, the underreporting of durable goods purchases and asset income in FIES accounts for the rest. According to the corrected savings rate, the savings rate for retired households dropped sharply after 1993, which would be one of the main reasons for lower savings rates over the last two decades.