The terror attacks have a strong impact on Brussels economy. “Job losses are likely to number in the thousands” according to a statement by Beci (Brussels Enterprises Commerce & Industry).
Olivier Willocx, the managing director of Beci, spoke about "10,000 jobs" on RTBF on Tuesday morning (19 April). In response, employers have launched a campaign under the name of "Stronger.brussels".
"We see already an increase in bankruptcies, (...) we now have a number of companies, including large companies, who have filed complete restructuring plans or are facing closure."
According to Willocx, the Brussels attacks are not the only cause. The problem of the tunnels, "and thus the accessibility to the city center or the pedestrian area" has also an economic impact.
“We’ll soon see the consequences of the pedestrian issue, which has been badly managed." The exasperation of shopkeepers is such that the mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur, was denied access on 15 April to the Cecilia restaurant
Olivier Willocx said on RTBF that "glad it happened like this." "You know, when a mayor is in permanent denial and says to people that it's not true that they lose 40% of their turnover, I think that it´s exasperating."
To counter the economic losses and the "state of emergency", the Brussels employers launched the campaign "Stronger.brussels".
The campaign aims at strengthening the political actions to help businesses overcome the crisis and to improve the image of Brussels and Belgium, both here and abroad.
Beci also runs courses on crisis management, business continuity planning, risk analysis, and post- traumatic treatment, to "draw lessons from these terrible months."
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
