BEIJING — Nearly half of Chinese intend to deposit more, while fewer expect to invest, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on March 20.

In the first quarter, potential “savers” still outnumber potential “investors” by 45.6 percent to 35.9 percent, according to the central bank’s latest quarterly survey.

Those who expect to invest more dipped by 0.5 percentage point while savers rose by 0.7 percentage point from previous quarter.

The most popular investment options are wealth management products, bonds and stocks.

Of urban residents, 48.8 percent consider current prices “too high”, down 4.1 percentage points from previous quarter, as CPI growth stood at 1.4 percent in February which quickened from the 0.8-percent gain in January, the lowest level in more than five years.

Housing prices continued to disappoint in the first quarter, as 51.9 percent of people said current home prices were “too high to accept”, down 6.9 percentage points from previous quarter, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, Chinese entrepreneurs are not as confident about the country’s macro economy as they were for the previous quarter.

Based on a survey of over 5,000 industrial entrepreneurs nationwide, the PBOC set the entrepreneur confidence index at 52.8 percent for the first quarter, down 1.7 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 2.5 percentage points from a year ago.

A reading above 50 percent indicates expansion in specific category while one below 50 percent suggests contraction.

Among all the surveyed entrepreneurs, 55 percent said the current macro economy is “normal”, while 43.3 percent considered it “relatively cool”.