The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday that domestic savings reached P1.854 trillion this year, higher by 6.8 percent relative to the previous year’s level.

“The household sector remained the prime saver in the economy for the fourth consecutive year and accumulated P909.8 billion in savings during the year, a 6.3-percent expansion from the previous year’s level,” a report from the BSP noted.

This could be attributed to sustained inflows of overseas Filipinos’ remittances and favorable domestic labor market conditions.

The non-financial corporations sector trailed behind, generating savings amounting to P672.5 billion owing to the sustained profitability of the industry and the services sectors.

According to report, the general government sector posted the highest growth in savings at 65.3 percent to reach P193.6 billion, as the national government’s position reversed from a dissaving of P17.6 billion in 2010 to a savings of P28.8 billion in 2011.

“In contrast, the financial sector’s savings declined by roughly a quarter to settle at P78.4 billion because of the large benefit payments by the life insurance industry along with the higher interest payments by the BSP,” the report added.

Meanwhile, the central bank said that real investment continues to expand on the strength of the investments of households and public non-financial corporations.

The economy’s capital accumulation expanded by 16.2 percent to reach P1.544 trillion.

“The household sector was the biggest accumulator of capital at P661.4 billion,” the BSP said.

However, the 12-percent growth in households’ real investment was a deceleration from the previous year’s 31.1 percent, because of the lower demand for residential condominiums.

The BSP said in a report that deferment of the power sector privatization plan resulted in lower disposal of fixed assets, translating to lower deccumulation in the government-owned and -controlled corporations’ real assets.

Also, the report said that the household sector regained the top net lender position at P248.4 billion, with currency and deposits as the desired form of asset accumulation.

Moreover, with the savings generated by the general government, its net borrowing was 65.4-percent lower than the previous year’s level of P56.6 billion.

The report also said that “the domestic economy’s net lending to the rest of the world declined by 23.9 percent to P309.5 billion, as growth in capital accumulation outpaced the growth in total savings.”