At the end of 2022, Bulgarians kept over EUR 36 billion in banks, an increase of 8.2% compared to 2021. But the number of households’ bank deposits has gone down by 2% within the space of a year, and they are now almost 8.9 million. 55% of these deposits are for sums up to EUR 500, the average being EUR 85. 7.22% of the people with deposits have sums up to EUR 2,500, Bulgarian National Bank statistics show. 290,000 depositors or 4% own almost half of the money kept in banks. In 2022, households in Bulgaria have taken out a total of 3 million loans totaling almost EUR 18 billion, more than 70% of the credits being for sums up to EUR 2,500. This means there are a great many Bulgarians who are running into debt to be able to cater for their daily needs, comments Lyubomir Kostov, chief economist of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria.