The month of April, marked by the third confinement, brought out of its hat a new net inflow (deposits, less withdrawals) very high for the Livret A. Nearly 3 billion euros, 2.95 billion more precisely , have indeed come to inflate the total amount now placed on this tax-exempt booklet, which reached a new record at 341.5 billion, according to data communicated by the Caisse des Dépôts on Friday, May 21.
This sum, however, remained well below that obtained just a year earlier, in April 2020, during the first confinement – 5.47 billion euros. Nevertheless, 14.93 billion have already been collected since the beginning of this year, against 13.47 during the first four months of last year.
Half of the 2020 collection in four months
By adding the approximately 840 million euros of net collection from the Livret de développement durable et solidaire (LDDS), the little brother of the Livret A, which operates globally in the same way and has the same rate of remuneration (0.50% since 1er February 2020), the collection for this month of April 2021 amounts to 3.79 billion. Total outstanding of the two passbooks at the end of April: nearly 467 billion.
A little more than 35 billion euros had been collected by the two booklets in 2020, thanks, above all, to consumption prevented by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic (traffic restrictions, closures of bars, restaurants and non-essential businesses, etc.), public support measures for household income, and an increase in precautionary savings, fueled by uncertainties about the health and economic situation (Livret A and LDDS being non-essential investments. risks on which money is available at all times). And another 18.42 billion have been recorded since the start of 2021 – half of the 2020 collection was therefore carried out in four months this year.
In fourteen months of health crisis, more than 47 billion and a half euros have so far boosted the outstanding amount of the two booklets.
The figures for May will be watched with the greatest attention by economists while the month is, in particular, marked by a relaxation of sanitary constraints and an expansion of the possibilities of consumption – authorized reopening of the terraces of cafes and restaurants, of all shops , cinemas, museums, etc.
All savings vehicles combined, according to the latest forecasts of the French Observatory of Economic Conjunctures (OFCE), published on April 14, “Households’ Covid savings, accumulated over two years, will represent around 160 billion, or more than 10 points of their annual income”.
“Although unevenly distributed, the mobilization of this savings towards consumption or on the contrary its hoarding for precautionary reasons will be decisive for the growth scenario of 2022”, underlines this note from the OFCE.