multiple crises and rising rates, the winning duo in 2022

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Exceptional, 2020, the year of the emergence of the health crisis, had been exceptional in many respects… and in particular for the Livret A, which had seen its outstanding amount grow by 27.97 billion euros. A figure commensurate with the shock suffered by households, which uncertainties had pushed to save, and whose consumption habits had been greatly disrupted by successive confinements, establishment closures, travel restrictions, etc.

Surprise: in 2022, this tax-free savings account did even better than in 2020, with an outstanding amount this time up by 32.06 billion, according to figures published on January 23 by the Caisse des dépôts.

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In detail, this result is due to a strong net collection (deposits, less withdrawals), of 27.23 billion, as well as 4.83 billion in gains made on this booklet by savers. We have to go back to 2012 to find a better year for the Livret A (+ 33.16 billion in total) – this year was marked by an increase in the payment ceiling.

3% on 1er February 2023

In total, at the end of 2022, 375.4 billion were invested in this product, and 509.7 billion if we add the sums invested in the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet (LDDS), which operates, broadly, as the Livret A (same rate of remuneration, same exemption from income tax and social contributions).

This new exceptional year can be explained by several factors. First of all: the increase in the rate of remuneration of these two booklets. After having stagnated at 0.5% for two years, it was raised to 1% in February 2022 then to 2% in August 2022. This “rate effect” should still play out at the start of 2023, the government having announced mid-January a new increase, to 3%, applicable on 1er february. Its highest level since 2009.

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“Any increase in the Livret A rate boosts collection the month of the announcement and the two or three months that follow”, emphasizes Philippe Crevel, founder of Cercle de l’Epargne. And this, even if “the two increases in the Livret A rate did not offset the effects of inflation”. In the end, over the year, the Livret A and the LDDS will have been remunerated on average at 1.38%, while INSEE estimates the increase in consumer prices at an annual average of 5.2% for 2022. The rate compensation (inflation deducted) is therefore largely negative.

Another factor favoring collection: the geopolitical and economic context, which is very turbulent all year round, with; in particular, the outbreak of war in Ukraine, concerns about energy supplies and rising inflation. At least a context ” anxiety inducing “notes Mr. Crevel.

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