Almost one in five Germans dipping into savings to get by – poll

BERLIN (Reuters) – Nearly one in five people in Germany have had to draw on their savings to cover everyday costs as rising inflation cuts into their purchasing power, a survey by the Kantar polling institute published on Tuesday found.

According to the survey of 2,000 people, 19.4% of respondents said they were using their savings to get by.

Some 12.3% of respondents said they did not have any money in reserve but could manage by tightening their belts, while 8% said they would have to find another job or government assistance because they had no money to fall back on.

By contrast, 57.4% of respondents said they could manage without having to dip into savings.

German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, were up 11.6% on the year in October.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Maria Sheahan and Nick Macfie)