[Article publié le lundi 6 janvier 2025 à 10h28, mis à jour à 16h58] This is bad news for households. The remuneration of Livret A will decrease from February 1st. Guest of France Inter this Monday, the Minister of the Economy, Eric Lombard, indicated that the Livret A rate, set at 3% since 2023, will decrease “around 2.5%”. Even if the boss of Bercy is still waiting for the proposal from the governor of the Bank of France, François Villeroy de Galhau to refine this figure.
As a reminder, thea formula for calculating the Livret A rate, also valid for the Booklet Sustainable and Solidarity Development (LDDS), is based half on the evolution of prices over the last six months and the other half on an exchange rate between banks.
In mid-January, as soon as the final inflation figures for December are known, the governor of the Bank of France will propose a new rate to Bercy, based on the result of the calculation formula or by deviating from it.
“The Livret A rate will fall, but inflation has fallen sharply since it is around 1%,” recalled the minister. Even with a less profitable Livret A, “savings are not only protected but they allow real assets to increase”, he explained.
Inflation has indeed shown a decline in recent months. It was thus measured at +1.3% over one year in November during the latest analysis carried out by INSEE.
No surprise
For households, this is not really a surprise. When he was still general director of the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) this fall, Éric Lombard announced a drop in the rate of this investment appreciated by the French due to the drop in inflation over the past year.
It remains that “the reduction in the Livret A rate is an eminently political decision”commented this Monday the director of the Circle of Savings, Philippe Crevel, in a note. The calculation formula is in fact far from being systematically applied and has been subject to frequent exceptions in recent years. For example, freezing the Livret A rate at 3% over 18 months, from August 1, 2023 to January 31, 2025, was to benefit the saver, according to its instigator, the then Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire. However, if the formula had been strictly applied, the rate would have been systematically higher, and even above 4% in the second half of 2023.
The upcoming reduction in the rate is in any case “supposed to encourage the French to save less and consume more”explained Philippe Crevel. The latter tend to “put aside”, according to the expression, as evidenced by the Livret A and LDDS which increased by 17.5 billion euros between January and November, to reach 582.3 billion euros, according to the latest data from the Caisse des Dépôts. And, in the absence of a budget voted in the National Assembly, households should still be cautious at the start of the year and place more funds in their savings account.
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