One in every four investors under the age of 45 years sees cryptocurrencies as the best investment prospect for 2022, according to ING Bank’s latest monthly barometer, issued on Friday.
Only 10% see shares as the best investment for this year.
Among respondents of all ages, real estate continues to be the best investment prospect, with 29% ranking it in first place, followed by cryptocurrencies (16%), and shares in third. Gold, the No. 1 choice of 8% of respondents, ranks fourth, followed by mandatory funds (5%) and liquid assets (3%), Belga news agency reports.
About 70% of Belgian investors feel the stock market value of the pharmaceutical sector will be much higher three years from now than it is today.
Asked about threats to financial markets this year, 34% cite Covid-19 as their first concern. Almost the same number (33% of respondents) share the same concern about inflation.
The bank’s December barometer is slightly lower than that of the previous month, slipping from 110 points in November to 104 points. “The new Coronavirus wave is probably no stranger to this, to the extent that no fewer than 34% of investors now expect the Belgian economy to weaken in the next three months, as against 28% who are banking on an improvement,” ING Belgium’s Chief Economist, Peter Vanden Houte, commented.
“You need to go as far back as April to see the scales tipping in favour of the pessimists,” he added.
Close to 500 Belgians with investor profiles were contacted for the online survey, conducted in December 2021.
