Savers with An Post will face lower returns on new investments from today.
It comes as the National Treasury Management Agency has decided to cut its interest rates.
For instance, customers with a three-year fixed rate savings bond will see the interest rate drop from 7 per cent to 4 per cent, while those with the six-year installment savings rate will see falls from 17 per cent to 14 per cent.
The cut will only effect new investments.
Consumer Columnist with the Herald Newspaper, Sinead Ryan says the Government want people spending - and not saving:
new jPlayerPlaylist({ jPlayer: '#191711370256373', cssSelectorAncestor: '#jp_container_191711370256373' }, [ { title:'Sinead Ryan', mp3:'http://cdn.radiocms.net/media/001/audio/000001/19171_media_player_audio_file.mp3'
} ], { swfPath: '/assets/includes/js/jPlayer', supplied: 'mp3', wmode: 'window', solution: 'flash, html' });
It's emerged Prize Bonds will also be hit. The NTMA says it will only be giving away a €1m windfall every two months from now on.
Until now, a top prize of €1m has been up for grabs every month.
The top prize of €1m will now only be given away on the last Friday of every second month, in February, April, June, August, October and December.
Last month, 47,670 prize-bond investors shared €3.6m in cash prizes.
