The economic damage because of the terror attacks in Brussels has been estimated to 4 billion euro. “If the terror threat persists or more attacks are perpetrated, the costs will rise further,” says chief economist Peter Vanden Houte at the ING bank on Wednesday to the daily Het Nieuwsblad.
In this first estimate Vanden Houte assumes that the costs amount to 0.1 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) or about 4 billion euros.
“Repairs of buildings account for only a small part of the costs. Cafes, restaurants and shops remained closed yesterday and may not see many customers in the coming days,” he says.
“It is also likely that security measures will deter people from frequenting them. We must also count the costs related to the closure of the airport which, according to some experts amount to 10 million euro per day, and the lock-down of traffic.
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
