The amount of money on deposit from Irish households has increased by €4 billion in the last year, new figures from the Central Bank show.

The latest retail interest statistics show Irish households had more than €40 billion in deposit accounts in May, €4 billion higher than in the same month last year.

Households are earning an average interest rate of just 0.24 per cent, according to the figures, which is lower than the rate of inflation. Inflation is currently running at an annualised rate of 0.40 per cent.

Of the total amount on deposit, €9.3 billion is being kept in deposit accounts which are redeemable at notice.

Almost €4 billion is on deposit with an agreed maturity of over two years, while €26.1 billion is on deposit for a period of up to two years. This figure is down from €29.9 billion in May 2013. The rate of interest being earned on those savings averages 1.97 per cent down from 2.78 per cent a year ago.