Abstract:
It is a clear and undisputable fact that savings is of great value to a nation’s growth and
development. Mobilizing both domestic and international savings is necessary for any
society to proceed into self-sustaining economic growth. Higher savings has been proven
to precede economic growth. Therefore the analysis of saving is the analysis of issues of
growth and development. This study therefore sought to examine the determinants of
savings behavior of working women household heads using the surveyed data from
selected household heads from Gamo Gofa Zone, SNNPR. A cross-sectional data was
collected from a sampled population of 216 sample sizes using systematic sampling
method. The structured interview, focus group discussion and personal observation were
used to collect data. Collected data was analyzed by stata version 11 software packages.
Tobit regression analysis was used to understand the factors that influence the possibility
of the level of savings of households. Thus as income increase the mean savings also
increase and those people living in the urban areas have highest saving and it is
statistically significant. Savings increased with age and the highest savings was recorded
at 32 years beyond which savings begin to decline. The availability of financial institution
affects saving positively but people have information gap. As people increased their level
of educational attainment, their mean savings also increased and as the number of
household size increased, the level of savings decreased. Unmarried or single also saved
higher than married couples. Thus unplanned expenditures tend to take the bulk of people
savings than the planned expenditures. The study therefore recommended for government
policies to be geared towards subsidizing the cost of higher education since it induced
higher savings. Also sensitization programs on National Health Insurance Service should
be intensified to enable many people to enroll on the program since those registered with
the scheme had higher savings.
