The Livret A recorded significantly more deposits from savers than withdrawals in March, bringing the monthly collection to 2.71 billion euros, its highest level since 2009, according to figures published Friday by the Caisse des Dépôts. .
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Rarely, in the space of a month, the collection of Livret A more than doubled compared to the previous month during which it stood at 1.17 billion euros last February, at a level then much lower to that reached in 2019.
Collection in the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet (LDDS), which contributes to the financing of the social and solidarity economy, also reached its highest monthly level since 2009 at € 1.12 billion in March. In total, net inflows on passbooks A and LDDS, investments both tax exempt, amounted to 3.82 billion euros across all banking networks.
"It is not savings that we need, but investment", deplores Le Maire
The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire deplored Wednesday this surge in monthly deposits on the two savings products. "It is not savings that we need today for our economy, but investment", he warned while the French, European and world economies are faced with the prospect of their worst recession since the 1930s, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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According to the minister, there is a "risk of seeing the savings rate increase in the face of uncertainties, to the detriment of the financing of our economy". On the other hand, compared to last year, the growth in deposits was much more moderate over the quarter - of the order of 2.6% - the cumulative collection of the two savings products reaching 9.90 billion euros between January and March against 9.65 billion last year over the same period. The total outstanding on these two products reached 420.8 billion euros at the end of March 2020.