Fixed at 6% since August 1, 2023, the remuneration rate of the Popular Savings Booklet (LEP) is revised every six months. A “new applicable rate much higher than inflation” will be proposed “in the coming days” by François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France, to the Minister of the Economy and Finance.
Due to the slowdown in inflation, which reached 3.7% over one year according to a first estimate from INSEE, this rate, currently at 6%, could fall on February 1, to between 4.25% and 4. 5%, predicts Philippe Crevel, director of the Circle of Savings. Indeed, the formula for calculating the LEP rate is the average inflation observed over the last six months. However, it is possible to deviate from this, like last summer when the rate was then set at 6%, compared to 5.6% theoretically.
LEP, Booklet A, kézako?
Owned by 10.7 million French people, the LEP is reserved for the most modest savers, who can deposit up to 10,000 euros. Between January and October 2023, 1.8 million new opened savings accounts were recorded by the Banque de France. In total, nearly 19 million French people would be eligible to open this booklet.
The Livret A rate, another very popular investment with guaranteed remuneration, would remain set at 3% until the end of January 2025. “It is an increasingly attractive rate since inflation will fall below 3%. ‘a few months from now,’ observed the governor of the Bank of France. The stabilization of this rate makes it possible to “relaunch social housing”, since housing loans, which Livret A funds largely finance, “increased by 9% last year”.