French central bank suggests raising tax free "Livret A" savings rate to 3%

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Livret A bank savings rate - held by millions of customers across the country - should be raised to 3% from 2%, the country's national central bank said on Friday.

The rate, which determines the guaranteed and tax-free returns consumers obtain for placing a limited amount of money into a special account managed by their personal bank, will still be well below France's current headline inflation rate of 6.7%.

Top officials including Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had recently flagged the move, citing the changing macro-economic environment and recent interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank.

Le Maire is expected to follow the central bank's recommendation and confirm the move later on Friday.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)