Paris (AFP)
The CGT of the Caisse des Dépôts group (CDC) denounced on Friday "the scheduled death of the Livret A", whose rate will fall, and the "heist of the century" of banks and the government which "will spoil popular savings of a billion euros ".
"The CDC, protector of popular savings, plays here + the useful idiot + of the government, by abusively justifying this drop in remuneration by a hypothetical interest in social housing", criticizes in a press release the first union of the group.
"It is indeed a billion euros that will be stolen from popular savers for the sole benefit of banks and the State", adds the union, with reference to the Livret A but also to the other regulated savings books (Livret de sustainable development and solidarity and popular savings account) whose rates will fall.
The government announced Wednesday that the rate of the Livret A would fall in February to its floor level of 0.5%, as expected by its new calculation formula, a decision intended to stimulate the funding of public policies and encourage the French to diversify their investments.
The Livret A is used to finance regional development, and in particular social housing, through the Caisse des Dépôts which centralizes part of the savings deposits. It thus has resources to grant loans to the various actors (social landlords, SMEs, communities).
By lowering the Livret A rate from 0.75% to 0.5%, the government takes the risk of allowing the real value of the savings entrusted to Livret A to deteriorate mechanically.
"One can wonder if the ultimate objective of this measure is not to question the sustainability of the Livret A itself and of its centenary role in the financing of social housing to open it to the markets, in a vast momentum of commodification and financialization ", regrets the CGT, which sees in it" the announced death of the Livret A ".
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