Living in a developing country I can say with a full confidence that a bank deposit is not safe as it seems to be as well as a bank deposit does not cover the real inflation. In a developing country a bank can become bankrupted without returning deposits, of cource, there is the insurance system but this system usually does not work properly. What about the inflation, there is the low inflation which is printed publically but the inflation in real life is much more. I usually estimate the level of real inflation by looking at the cost of fuel because in my country it is a perfect indicator.