The Belgian insurance industry was adversely affected by the global financial crisis and continued to confront challenges related to legacy assets and economic uncertainties in Europe. The Belgian authorities have made significant progress in updating the insurance regulatory regime and...

The Belgium Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) stress testing exercise examines a financial sector that remains in a state of transformation. Domestic economic challenges remain sources of continued uncertainty as the banking sector consolidates and reduces funding risks. Insurers face...

In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund, and with a view to supporting the Fund's ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the National Bank of Belgium agrees...

Effective November 12, 2012, the Fund, as Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), entered into a borrowing agreement (the 'Agreement') with the National Bank of Belgium, by which Belgium will provide new loan resources of up to SDR 350 million (see attachment). With this...

The characteristics of the Belgian labor market are examined using international comparisons in order to assess the government’s recent labor market initiatives. The labor market in Belgium is found to suffer from a number of structural problems compared to other industrial countries: the...

Belgium’s impressive past fiscal consolidation is an example for other countries that need to bring down their public debt and also provides insights on how best to address its own current fiscal challenges. Belgium has a unique history of a long and successful large fiscal consolidation....

This Selected Issues paper for Belgium evaluates whether price increases in Belgium are excessive. It assesses the household and bank balance sheets and their vulnerability to a slowdown in housing prices, and identifies differences in real estate markets between Belgium and other countries. The...

This paper discusses key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) and Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) on Banking Supervision, Securities Regulation, Insurance Supervision and Regulation, and Securities Settlement Systems for Belgium. The assessment...

The basic government finance processes are supported by a sound institutional and legal framework. Fiscal information is provided through regular publications and extensive use of the internet. Finally, audit processes are extensive and help improve budget management decisions, practices and...

Although economic performance has remained good, difficulties in building consensus for institutional reform have caused an ill-affordable hiatus in economic policymaking. Robust economic activity absorbed a growing labor force and allowed the unemployment rate to decline continuously....