• In one year, the booklet A went from a rate of 1 to 3%.

    He won a first point in August 2022, and so here he is with one more on Wednesday, February 1.

  • An increase which remains quite insufficient in the face of the steamroller of inflation.

  • However, the savings account remains a huge success with the French and French.

This Wednesday, February 1, the passbook A rate drops to 3%, or one point gained.

If we had to spin the sporting metaphor to explain what this increase represents, we could evoke a magnificent goal scored in the 89th minute… by a team trailing 3-0.

It doesn't hurt, but it's not enough.

Admittedly, it had been fifteen years since it had experienced such a rise.

But "in real return - that is to say what the booklet A really brings in with the cost of living and the evolution of prices - it is one of the worst levels since the 1980s", warns Philippe Crevel, economist and president of the Cercle des Savers.

Because it's all well and good, a rate of 3%, but when inflation is 5.2% over the last twelve months, it remains light.

Even counterproductive: “By saving on the booklet A, even at 3%, you lose money.

Technically, it is still more profitable to spend your money now than to save it,” explains our expert.

Suppose you want to buy a product for 100 euros.

If you put this sum in your Livret A account for a year to save before buying it, you will have 103 euros in twelve months… Except that by then, your product will have “on average” increased to 105.2 euros.

You therefore lose 2.2 euros compared to an immediate purchase.

Rate at a loss but growing success

Maxime Chipoy, president of MoneyVox - internet guide of explanation and comparison on personal finance -, draws the same observation: the Livret A rate remains very weak in such a context: "The government, anticipating a slightly lower inflation in the future and not wanting to penalize the banks, once again did not want to give gifts to savers.

It was the same six months ago, when it was increased by one point to 2%.

»



However, the booklet A shows incredible health, 2022 having been the second best year of his long career.

The annual collection reached, according to data from the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, 27.23 billion euros.

Only 2012 had done better (28.16 billion euros), marked by the raising of the ceiling to 22,950 euros and by the sovereign debt crisis.

Why such a success ?

Firstly because unless you spend all your salary every month and have no euro to save - which we neither wish nor advise you -, it is still more profitable to invest your money than to leave it on his checking account.

Yes, with Livret A, you lose, but you still lose less than doing nothing.

“Faced with inflation, it is essential not to leave one euro too much in current accounts.

Remember that more than 550 billion euros are stagnating there, which are not remunerated at all!

says Maxime Chipoy.

A good time to save

Moreover, periods of economic crisis are particularly conducive to savings, agrees Philippe Crevel.

Last December is a good illustration of the fact that the French have gone into cicada mode.

Usually, the A booklets empty a little for parties, gifts and the pleasures of the table.

Count five outflows over the past ten years.

But at the end of 2022, the French placed 1.45 billion euros more on the most famous of the booklets, proof that the period is for savings. 

And why this account and not another?

In times of uncertainty, we like safe havens, especially this good old booklet, supports Philippe Crevel.

The director cites a more pragmatic reason: “The majority of other savings accounts yield even less”.

The only other savings that gets away with it, the People's Savings Book (LEP), “whose rate will be increased to 6.1% and which more than half of French people could claim.

An essential product for them, but unfortunately too little known and little promoted by banks”, breathes Maxime Chipoy.

Last possibility, life insurance, whose rates are also revised upwards.

But not enough to shake up the hierarchy.

Whether it is really profitable or not, in times of crisis or good economic health, the Livret A confirms, year after year, its supremacy over savings.

And it is not in 2023 that this is likely to change.

Economy

Savings: Why do the French shun the popular savings account (LEP), yet more profitable than the booklet A?

Economy

Livret A: The rate raised from 2 to 3% from February 1, following a proposal from the Governor of the Banque de France

  • Economy

  • A booklet

  • Saving

  • Bank

  • Silver

  • Inflation