The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, confirmed on Friday the increase proposed earlier by the Banque de France.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
The rate applied to booklet A will be 3 % from the 1 er February. An never reached level since 2009, but still lower than inflation. Bruno Le Maire confirmed the increase on Friday, January 13, from 2 % to 3 %, offered earlier during the day by the Banque de France.
This proposal is the fruit of a slight downward revision, François Villeroy de Galhau invoking in a press release “exceptional circumstances” to spare the finances of social housing, whose loans are often indexed to this rate. Without rounding, the calculation formula taking into account inflation on the one hand (5.9 % in December, according to INSEE) and on the other hand interbank rates, to which banks are exchanged from money to Short term, would have highlighted the rate at 3.3 %.
The 3 % will be applicable from the 1 er February to some 55 million booklet A, as well as to the sustainable and solidarity development book (LDDS). This “already represents a significant increase”, specifies the central bank in a press release, wishing “that the rate movements of booklet A remain progressive rather than too volatile, and this upwards as one day, potentially, down”.
500 billion deposited by the French
The 500 billion euros deposited by the French on these two products, most of which are centralized by the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), are partly intended to finance social housing, the social and solidarity economy or Still energy savings in housing.
If the increase in the rate is good news for savers, it is therefore less well experienced by certain public players, whose loans with the CDC are often indexed to this rate.
The rate of booklet A, still at its level floor of 0.5 % a year ago, had doubled for the first time at 1 er February 2022, then again at 1 er August, to reach 2 %. As for the rate of the Popular Savings Booklet (LEP), reserved for the most modest, it should jum from 4.6 % to 6.1 %, a good deal for an audience not always in being able to save.
The Banque de France “strongly supports this instrument, the simplification of the opening methods, promotion and remuneration led to more than 2 million openings in 2022,” she explains.