Good news for savers. The governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, proposed this Friday to raise the Livret A rate to 3% on February 1, compared to the current 2%. A level never seen since 2009 that was confirmed in the process by the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, guest of the 13 hours of France 2. The rate of the Popular Savings Account (LEP) will go from 4.6 to 6.1 % .
To calculate the new Livret A rate, the monetary institution follows a formula that takes into account inflation and the interbank rates at which banks exchange money in the short term. While the rate could theoretically have reached 3.3% based on this formula, François Villeroy de Galhau invokes “exceptional circumstances” in a press release to justify a slightly lower level.
>> CALCULATOR: How does the increase in the Livret A rate to 3% change for your savings?
This “already represents a significant increase”, the central bank specifies in a press release, wishing “that the movements of the livret A rate continue to be progressive instead of too volatile, and this upwards as a potentially bearish day”.
The Livret A rate, the most popular investment in France, which was at its lowest level of 0.5% a year ago, doubled for the first time on February 1, 2022 and then again on August 1, to reach the 2 %.
Financing of social housing
The approximately 500 billion euros deposited by the French in the livret A and the livret de développement durable et solidaire (LDDS), most of which is centralized by the Caisse des dépôts (CDC), are intended to finance social housing , the social and solidarity economy. or even energy savings in the home.
If the rate increase is good news for savers, it is less well received by local authorities and social housing players, whose CDC loans are often indexed to this rate. The rise in the rate is also coldly received by banking establishments that keep part of the deposits in their coffers. It could cost, for example, around 2,000 million euros this year to the BPCE group, in particular through its savings banks.
Source: BFM TV
