Regional labor market discrepancies have been widening in Belgium in the last two decades and are more evident within particular demographic groups. These developments can largely be accounted for by worse matching of people to jobs in the high-unemployment provinces. Using a structural VAR, it...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that Belgium’s growth has picked up following weakness in early 2005, mainly reflecting a negative contribution from the external sector and weak household consumption owing to high energy prices. The authorities and the IMF staff project GDP growth...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes fiscal devolution in Belgium. It examines long-term fiscal strategies for meeting the fiscal burden of population aging. The paper presents estimates of the fiscal costs of population aging in Belgium, and discusses their sensitivity to underlying assumptions....

This 2002 Article IV Consultation highlights that Belgium’s real GDP growth fell sharply in 2001 to 0.8 percent and remained weak in 2002 at an estimated 0.7 percent. The fundamental factor behind these developments was the slowdown in the economies of Belgium’s trading partners, especially...