Belgian economic growth should be limited to 0.9% in 2023 and 1.0% in 2024, compared with 3.2% in 2022, the UCLouvain Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES) announced on Thursday in its latest economic outlook.
General consumer price inflation, meanwhile, is expected to average 4.2% in 2023 and 4.1% next year.
Growth in the Belgian economy proved solid in the first quarter before weakening in the second, with GDP rising by just 0.2% between March and June, IRES points out.
Growth should then "remain sluggish" during the second half of 2023 and again partially in 2024, due in particular to a "depressed" economic situation in the eurozone, the fall in confidence among Belgian businesses and persistently high inflation.
The growth of the labour market should also slow during the coming quarters, adds the institute. According to its outlook, after the creation of 30,000 jobs in the first half of the year, employment should increase by around 40,000 units in 2023 and 56,000 in 2024.
The number of jobseekers, on the other hand, should increase by 21,000 units in 2023 but fall by 6,000 in 2024.
