Chinese bank deposits increased by CN¥26.3 trillion ($3.9 trillion) last year, according to recent data from China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Spurred by China’s rigid COVID-19 containment strategy, which the government rolled back in December, household savings surged by CN¥17.8 trillion in 2022, growing by more than CN¥5 trillion in the last two months of the year alone. To many Western economists and analysts, these so called “excess sa