The need to revive Euro area growth highlights the importance of the evolution of domestic and external demand in the core. This paper puts recent demand patterns in France, Germany, and Belgium into historical perspective. We find that, first, dynamics for private consumption, non-residential...

The Fund, as Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT or Trust), has entered into new borrowing agreements with the National Bank of Belgium (Belgium) and the Swiss National Bank (Switzerland), effective on August 30, 2017. These new borrowing agreements with Belgium and...

The global financial crisis has forced government intervention in major financial institutions in Belgium. This 2008 Article IV Consultation discusses that the boom in energy and food prices in early 2008 caused inflation to spike to well above the euro area average. Executive Directors have...

This financial stability assessment provides an update on the significant regulatory and supervisory developments in the banking and insurance sectors of Belgium since 2006. The Belgian financial system is relatively large with solid capital buffers on aggregate, and the 2008 global financial...

The Belgian financial system is relatively large, concentrated, and interconnected and has a high level of compliance with the Basel Core Principles (BCPs) for effective banking supervision. The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) deploys high-quality supervisory practices and has clear lines of...

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...