The preferred placement of the French had not reached such a level of remuneration for more than ten years, even if it remains significantly lower than inflation.
Good news for savers. The passbook A rate will drop from 2% to 3% on February 1, Bruno Le Maire announced this Friday, following the proposal of the Governor of the Banque de France. An unprecedented level since 2009, even if it remains significantly lower than inflation, which stood at 5.2% on average in 2022 over one year according to INSEE. “This represents, on an average outstanding passbook A (about 6000 euros, editor’s note), 200 euros of remuneration per year“, specified the Minister of the Economy to the JT of 13H of France 2.
This announcement follows rate calculations by the Banque de France, which takes into account inflation and interbank rates, at which banks exchange short-term money. This is the third increase in the rate of the preferred placement of the French in the space of a year. At its lowest level of 0.5% at the start of 2022, it had doubled for the first time on February 1, 2022 and then again on August 1, to reach 2%.
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The increase announced on Friday is slightly weaker than expected. Inflation and the increase in the key rates of the European Central Bank (ECB) indeed suggested that the rate would be raised to 3.2% or 3.3%, according to Philippe Crevel, director of Cercle de l’épargne, interviewed by AFP. The Banque de France also confirms that its rate could have been higher:The application of the formula would result in a rate of 3.3% for the booklet A“, she said in a press release.
But, she specifies, the rate of the booklet A “ is a very important component of the cost of financing the French economy, including mortgage loans and business loans“. Raise it too muchwould be very unfavorable to this key sector for our social cohesion and our economic activity“. Moreover, “It is desirable that the rate movements of the livret A remain progressive rather than too volatile, and this on the rise as a day potentially on the decline“, explains the institution. Bruno Le Maire also highlighted the imperative of “finding the right balance between protecting our compatriots against inflation and the need to also protect borrowers and investors“.
The Governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, had already warned before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that his recommendation “should take into account in its few possibilities of adjustment the good balance between the fair remuneration of popular savings and the preservation of a reasonable cost of financing of our economy, including social housing in particular“.
LEP rate raised to 6.1%
Similarly, the rate of the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet should follow the same path, and be raised to 2%, this investment being aligned with the rate of the Livret A. The popular savings account (LEP), reserved for the poorest households more modest, will also benefit from a very significant revaluation on 1 February. It will go from 4.6% to 6.1%, indicated Bruno Le Maire, also going in the direction of the Banque de France’s proposal. Which represents “an average salary of 340 euros per year“, specified Bruno Le Maire, who was pleased that from February 1, France becomes “the only country in Europe to offer its compatriots a guaranteed savings account at a rate higher than inflation“.
However, the government’s number two lamented that this placement is not well enough known. “There are 10 million of our compatriots who could benefit from it and who have not yet opened it.“, he regretted. Bruno Le Maire thus launched an appeal to French people who are eligible for it, adding that a “major communication campaignwas about to be launched. “We have asked the banks to offer this LEP to savers, and we will write to each of the eligible savers to tell them: open this booklet“, he said.
The Banque de France also explains that it supports “strongly this instrument whose simplification of opening procedures, promotion and remuneration led to more than 2 million openings in 2022, i.e. almost three times more than in 2021“, Can we read in the press release of the institution published this Friday, which counts 8.5 million holders of an LEP. A growing figure,with still room for improvement since more than 18 million French people are eligible“.
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