Savings are popular in 2022. Faced with generalized inflation that does not seem to be drying up, many French people prefer to keep their savings warm rather than embark on risky investments.
In the second quarter of 2022, the household savings rate in France thus stood at 15.5%, according to INSEE, a figure down slightly from the first quarter (16.7%), but which remains very high compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Even if, according to the national institute of statistics, the French had, last April, less and less confidence in their future ability to save, and even less optimism concerning their personal financial situation.
Unsurprisingly, the preferred investment of households remains the unbeatable Livret A, the savings account exempt from tax and compulsory levies whose interest rate is set by the State twice a year.
A year ago, its yield was still 0.5%: historically, this was its lowest rate… Above all, it was then at a level very much lower than inflation, which did not , since then, stopped increasing.
Last July, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire had indicated, in this sense, that the rate of the Livret A would be increased by 2%.
However, the variable remains below the level of inflation, estimated at 6% in October 2022.
But this data did not detach the French from their favorite savings product: last August, savings deposited in the Livret A account amounted to 367 billion euros according to Caisse des Dépôts.
The government has also assured that there will be no further increase in the Livret A rate before… February 2023.
What to expect, then, for this new year?
“There will be a further increase in the rate of the booklet A on February 1,” assured the Banque de France to the newspaper Le Parisien.
The new remuneration for the savings product could then be close to 3%, if we rely on the calculation method set by the decree of January 21, 2021.
“It is calculated as the half-yearly average of the inflation rate and short-term interbank rates, with rounding calculated to the nearest tenth of a point. Clearly, the updated rate, decided on January 15 for application on February 1 , could thus be 3%”, notes the daily.
At Merci pour l’Info, the economist Philippe Crevel agrees: the rate will increase to 3%, or even 3.25%.
The remuneration of the Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet (LDDS) should experience a similar increase.
Other savings products will most certainly see their rate automatically revalued in 2023.
Thanks for the Info notes a possible revaluation of the People’s Savings Book (LEP), currently at 4.6%, up to 6%. “A high return for a short-term investment,” comments economist Philippe Crevel.
As for the housing savings plan (PEL), its rate (at 1% currently) could rise between 2 and 2.5%, and this, from January 1, 2023.
The remuneration of the housing savings account (CEL), calculated at “two-thirds of the rate for booklets A, rounded to the nearest quarter point or, failing that, to the higher quarter point”, explains Philippe Crevel on Merci pour l’Info, should for its part reach 2% gross.
But what about the second favorite investment of the French, life insurance?
Faced with the unshakable popularity of the Livret A, more accessible and more profitable in the short term, “the star of life insurance pales slightly”, observes Le Parisien. At the end of September, its outstanding amount fell by 40 billion euros in one year. It must be said that its average yield, at 1.3% in 2021, is less attractive than that of its “rival”.
In 2022, experts estimate that this rate could rise to 1.7 to 2%.
“The average gross yield for 2022 will reach 1.8%. It will be in a range between 1-1.2% to 2.8-2.9% gross, depending on the contracts”, advances Philippe Crevel at Thanks for the Info.
A maneuver made possible thanks to what the Parisian calls the “secret weapon” of insurers: the provision for profit sharing (PPB).
Concretely, it is a fund of some 63.2 billion euros, corresponding to “the part of the remuneration due to the insured that the companies can decide to defer”, explains Le Parisien.
Insurers are expected to say more about their action plan for 2023 early in the year.
