Livret A: its interest rate will drop to 2.4% on February 1, 2025

The governor of the Banque de France proposed, this Wednesday, January 15, to lower the yield on the Livret A from 3% to 2.4% from February 1. Savers will not benefit from a boost in their remuneration this year.

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The new rate of Booklet A has not yet been made official by Bercy, but there is no more suspense. The yield on the French savings account, with 57 million holders, will plunge on February 1, 2025. It should indeed go from 3% to 2.4%as recommended by the Governor of the Bank of France, François Villeroy de Galhau, to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Eric Lombard, this Wednesday, January 15. Very bad news for the holders of this completely tax-free product, who had become accustomed to receiving a net remuneration of 3% since August 1, 2023, the date of freezing of the Livret A rate.

But how can we explain such a decline in the Livret A rate? The reason is to be found in inflation which collapsed for 18 months and landed at 1.2% excluding tobacco in December 2024, according to the latest statistics released by INSEE this Wednesday. However, the remuneration of the Livret A is none other than the average of the annual evolution of prices excluding tobacco over the past six months on the one hand, and of interbank rates (€STR) on the other hand. Between July and December 2024, the average inflation fell to 1.38% while that of interbank rates stood at 3.41%. It is therefore indeed a 2.4% interest rate ((1.38%+3.41%)/2) which emerges from the calculation formula.

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A boost for the LEP rate… not for that of the Livret A

Certainly, the governor of the Banque de France has the right to deviate from the rule, in the event of exceptional circumstances, to propose remuneration higher than that resulting from the calculation formula. What he did this Wednesday by recommending a rate of 3.5% for the Popular savings account (THE P). But François Villeroy de Galhau decided otherwise for Livret A. “We are now out of exceptional circumstances and winning our fight against inflation”he specifies in a press release published this Wednesday, January 15. Indeed, even with a rate reduced by 0.6 points on February 1, the latter will remain well higher than the price increase currently observed.

A final step is now necessary to record the new rate of the Livret A and the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet (LDDS) – systematically equal to that of Livret A – on February 1, its officialization by Bercy. A validation which should take place in the coming hours.