Belgium's GDP dropped by more than 12% in the second quarter

Belgium's GDP dropped by more than 12% in the second quarter
Credit: Belga

Belgian GDP fell by 12.1% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter, the National Bank of Belgium (BNB) said Monday.

A previous estimate at the end of July predicted a slightly higher decline of -12.2%.

The drop is due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis, according to the BNB.

In addition, “with international trade sharply down, Belgium also saw its import and export flows tumble,” the BNB said in a press release. “Imports (-13.9 slumped more than exports (-13.3%), so net exports of goods and services positively affected the change in GDP (by +0.4 percentage points),” the bank added.

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Employment also went down, by 0.8% compared to the previous quarter, and by 0.3% compared to the second quarter of the year before.

In the first quarter, GDP had already fallen by 3.5% compared with the previous quarter.

Jason Spinks

The Brussels Times


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