The Belgian state will lose a total of 2.3 billion euros in aiming to guard against interest rate increase.
So report L'Echo and De Tijd on Tuesday.
Faced with interest rate reductions, the Agence de la Dette (responsible for managing public debt) decided during Autumn 2014 to freeze the rate on part of the sovereign debt which it should have financed for 2015 and 2016. The strategy was a precaution against a potential increase in rates. The latter, nevertheless, continued to increase; there was indeed a financial loss made on this sum,
However, we should note that only one third of the 65 billion euros of debt financed in respect of this year and the previous year, fell into this type of dealing. The remaining two-thirds benefited from a decrease in rates, and the savings made counter-balanced the losses recorded against the remainder of the total, the Agence de la Dette was keen to point out.
(Source: Belga)
