Livret A: the boss of the Caisse des dépôts does not want a further rate hike in August

2023-04-25 12:30:20

An announcement concerning the 55 million French people who use this savings product. The director general of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) Éric Lombard indicated on Tuesday that he wanted the livret A to remain at 3% next August, while a further increase is possible. The Livret A rate is calculated twice a year, in February and August, and may be calculated twice more, in May and November, in exceptional circumstances.

“As this rate serves as the basis for the cost of financing social housing, and there are 170 billion euros borrowed by social housing, I hope that this rate will remain stable over time,” said Éric Lombard on France Info, emphasizing that “it is essential that social housing continues to be built”.

“No need to yoyo”

The role of the CDC is to manage part of the money in the livret A, with the banking networks. Faced with an inflation that Eric Lombard considers “transitory”, “it is not worth yo-yoing with the rate of the booklet A”, according to him. “Probably, when inflation goes down, this rate will go down, but it won’t be for now,” he added.

Its level is decided by taking into account on the one hand the rise in prices and on the other hand the interbank rates, at which the banks exchange short-term money, for the last few months. Thus, next summer, the rate could drop to 4%, or even 4.3%, according to Philippe Crevel, director of the Circle of Savings.

However, the Governor of the Banque de France and the Minister for the Economy have the option of derogating from the calculation rule. This is what happened in February 2022, when the Banque de France proposed rounding to 1%, instead of 0.8%, then in February 2023, but in the other direction this time, when the institution had proposed 3% instead of 3.3%.

Still at its lowest point of 0.5% at the very beginning of 2022, it has since been revalued three times, due to high inflation. The press has recently echoed the concerns of the banks about a new increase, which would force them to better remunerate the savings of the French. “Any speculation on a future decision by the Banque de France is premature and unfounded today”, however declared on RTL on Tuesday François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, recalling that he would make his proposal “in July”, depending on the situation “at that time”.