IMF Staff Country Reports

Belgium: Staff Report for the 2002 Article IV Consultation

March 4, 2003

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Belgium: Staff Report for the 2002 Article IV Consultation, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2003) accessed September 19, 2024

Summary

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 Germany. Thus, Belgium’s export market growth fell from a robust 12.1 percent in 2000 to only 0.6 percent in 2001; in 2002, export markets shrank an estimated 1 percent. In 2002, employment began to decline and unemployment began to rise.

Subject: Budget planning and preparation, Expenditure, Fiscal policy, Fiscal stance, Labor, Labor markets, Public debt, Wages

Keywords: CR, Emergence of a deficit, Europe, Fiscal stance, Fund staff estimate, General government balance, Global, ISCR, Labor markets, Reducing social spending, Revised projection, Staff appraisal, Staff projection, Table, Wages, World oil price

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    41

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Country Report No. 2003/049

  • Stock No:

    1BELEA0012003

  • ISBN:

    9781451803129

  • ISSN:

    1934-7685