Good news: the Livret A rate is preparing for a further rise. From February 1, the preferred savings account of the French will increase to 3% per year. Rise which follows, in part, the high inflation that the country has been experiencing for a year. Caledonians, holders of a booklet A, will therefore be able to save more.
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With 115,000 accounts opened, the Livret A is today the most used investment on Caillou. However, at the exit of the banks, few customers seem aware of the increase in its rate. Some, like Xavier, even showed little interest until now. “I prefer to invest my cash today either in real estate assets or in companies, he indicates. That said, now that I learn that the booklet is at 3%, I wonder if I will not open one.
Offered by all New Caledonian banks, the livret A might arouse more interest in the coming months. In the space of a year, its rate has been multiplied by six, as recalled by Yann Caron, the director of the Institut d’mission d’Outre-mer.
“For a long period, we were at 1%, even less, at 0.5%. So that is once more becoming significant rates that are quite attractive for the public and above all that compensate for the level of inflation, he explains. When we have inflation of 6%, we remain on a real investment interest rate which is negative, but which despite everything carries this savings product.
If the Livret A account does not follow inflation at 6%, it is in particular because increasing the rate amounts to penalizing the social housing sector. “All the funds in the livret A are placed with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, which often finances social housing on 40-year loans at low interest rates”continues Yann Caron.
At the start of 2022, Caledonian Livret A accounts represented the equivalent of 19 billion CFP francs.
