Belgian economic activity improved, compared to the last quarter of 2015, reaching 0.2% in the first quarter of this year, confirmed the National Bank of Belgium (BNB) on Tuesday. On an annual basis, the rate of growth of GDP went up 1.5%, prompted mainly by growth in the construction sector.
Compared to the preceding quarter, added-value increased in all sectors of economic activity, going up by 0.2% in industry, 1.9% in construction and 0.1% in services.
Internal demand grew by 0.3% – an increase observed both for households and private and public companies – while net exports of goods and services had a negative contribution (-0.1%).
The National Bank also confirmed that internal employment rate saw slight growth of 0.2% in the first quarter in relation to the preceding quarter (+1% on an annual basis).
(Source: Belga)