With an average return over the year of 2.92%, your Livret A will earn you (significantly) more money in 2023 than in 2022. That’s the good news. But it has its downside: you could have received even more if the government had not chosen to freeze its 3% rate. Here’s how much your shortfall is.
This is one of the little pleasures of the beginning of the year! Next January 1, on the morning of New Year’s Day (or the next day if your bank is a little slow to relax), you should see the following appear on your account statement. amount of interest earned in 2023 thanks to the money placed in your Livret A. Unless you have made large withdrawals during the year, it should be significantly more important than in 2022.
MoneyVox did the calculation some time ago: the average return on the most popular payment booklet in France will reach 2.92% in 2023. Certainly, this will not be enough to offset the effects of inflation, expected around 5%. But it will be better than in 2022, where the price increase was comparable (5.2%) but where this average rate had capped at 1.375%. To give you an idea, this represents, constant balance over the whole year, a gain of 354 euros for a Livret A to the ceiling (22,950 euros) oraround 98 euros for an average Livret A, garnished with 6,350 euros.
Livret A, LDDS, LEP: how much interest will you really receive in 2023 with the new rates?
A shortfall of 140 euros and more
So much for the glass half full. But we are also entitled to see the glass half empty: your Livret A could have bring you even more if the government had not decided to block its rate.
Reminder: the Livret A rate has indeed been increased once in 2023, going from 2% to 3% from February 1. But its progress could have been even more favorable if the governor of the Bank of France had chosen to strictly apply the mathematical formula provided to revise this rate. A formula which reflects the evolution of two reference indices: inflation excluding tobacco and short-term interbank rates.
Instead, Franois Villeroy de Galhau chose to invoke exceptional circumstances to recommend that the government slow down the rise. A recommendation that the government followed, drawing its power of waiver and even going so far as to freeze the Livret rate at 3% until January 2025!
These rates you missed: 3.30% in February and 4.10% in August
What would have happened if the public authorities had allowed the Livret A rate to evolve as planned by the regulations? Last February 1, he would have passed 2% 3.30% (and not 3%). And on August 1, rather than a 3% freeze, remuneration would have been raises 4.10%. Finally, the 2023 average rate of Livret A would have reached 3.525%.
The difference is not anecdotal: with such a rate, the net yield of a Livret A at the payment ceiling (22,950 euros) would have exceeded 800 euros (809 euros). That’s a loss of nearly 140 euros. And more, of course, for the numerous savings accounts (more than 5 million at the end of 2022) whose balance exceeds this payment ceiling thanks to interest capitalized over the years.
| Placed amount* | Real return 2023 | 2023 yield without rate freeze | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22950** | 669.38 | 808.98 | 139.6 |
| 15000 | 437.50 | 528.75 | 91.25 |
| 10000 | 291, 67 | 352.5 | 60.83 |
| 6351*** | 185.23 | 223.87 | 38.64 |
| 5000 | 145.83 | 176.25 | 30.42 |
| 1000 | 29.17 | 35.25 | 6.08 |
| 150 | 4.38 | 5.29 | 0.91 |
*Assumption of a constant balance from January 1 to December 31
** Payment limit
*** Average balance at the end of 2022
Livret A: do you have more money than the average French person?
A catch-up in 2024? Nothing is less certain…
By announcing, last July, his decision to block the Livret A rate until January 2025, Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, considered that this constituted good news. For what? Because this blockage would become favorable to the saver during 2024, when the drop in inflation could have justified a reduction in the rate. Clearly, the minister hinted a catch-up next year.
Will this catch-up take place? Nothing is less certain. We took stock at the end of November: despite the drop in inflation, the technical rate of the Livret A, resulting from the strict application of the calculation formula, approximately 4% remained, notably due to interbank rates still at their highest. Unless the price rise fades or rates fall violently and/or rapidly (two improbable scenarios), the chances are slim that the blockage will become a good deal for savers by the start of 2025…
Livret A: false good news for the rate of the French’s favorite investment