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The Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) is an independent public agency. It draws up studies and projections on economic, social and environmental policy issues and on the integration of these policies within a context of sustainable development.
The FPB is an independent public agency that makes forecasts, carries out research and analyses public policy measures. Its main mission is to support the political decision-making process. For that purpose, it shares its expertise with the government, parliament, social partners and national and international institutions. The FPB carries out studies and projections on economic, social and environmental policy issues and on the integration of these policies within a context of sustainable development.
Most of the FPB’s activities are legally defined. Other studies are carried out at the request of the government, social partners and parliament. The FPB can also undertake projects at its own initiative within the framework of research contracts or conventions with third parties. The FPB publishes the results of its studies, ensures their dissemination and thus contributes to the democratic debate.
The FPB adheres to an approach characterized by independence, transparency and the defence of the general interest. It uses high-quality data, scientific methods and the empirical validation of analyses.
When the FPB was founded on 14 October 1959, it bore the name “Programming Bureau”. Its mission was to develop an economic policy framework, which had been lacking until then, by submitting proposals to the Ministerial Committee for Economic and Social Coordination. In 1970, the Programming Bureau’s name was changed to “Planning Bureau”, in accordance with the law of 15 July of that same year. The economic programmes were replaced with economic plans, marked by a more formalized approach and regional components. From 1980 onward, the Planning Bureau abandoned its former approach and focused on drawing up economic projections and impact studies on different subjects. In 1994, in the wake of the fourth Belgian state reform, the Planning Bureau’s name was once more changed, to the “Federal Planning Bureau”.
The FPB is headed by Baudouin Regout, Commissioner and by Saskia Weemaes, Deputy Commissioner.
The FPB's research is carried out in two departments: the General Directorate and the Sectoral Directorate. The Administrative Department provides administrative support.
The organisational chart of the FPB is available in these PDF files:
Head of the directorate: Igor Lebrun - Deputies: - Michel Saintrain
The General Directorate works on studies which require a global approach and which focus on macroeconomic coherence. It comprises four teams, with the following fields of activity:
Coordinator: Filip Vanhorebeek
This team produces short- and medium-term economic forecasts for Belgium as well as scenario analyses. The short-term forecasts are used to draw up or adjust the federal budget. These forecasts are known as the "Economic Budget". This team also produces monthly inflation forecasts. The medium-term forecasts cover the national economy and are then broken down into the three Belgian regions as part of the regional outlook. Scenario analyses estimate the impact of exogenous shocks or economic policy measures.
Coordinator: Peter Stockman
These studies are specifically aimed at medium-term and long-term outlooks and projections, including the assessment of measures or reforms in the labour market, such as cuts in social security contributions or wage subsidies. They are based on a thorough examination of current evolutions and draw from highly detailed databases.
Coordinator: Michel Saintrain
The analyses of this team are mainly aimed at the accounts and budgets of the different levels of government, the financial interactions between those levels, the elaboration of detailed forecasts for public finances and the examination of structural trends in budget policy and public debt. As part of the collaboration between the FPB and the National Accounts Institute, the team contributes to drawing up the government account in the national accounting. Finally, the team also carries out thematic studies on topics such as public employment.
Guy Van Camp (Coordinator ‘Income distribution and poverty’) Greet De Vil (Coordinator ‘Pensions’) Nicole Fasquelle (Coordinator ‘Demography, health care and other social benefits)
This team’s studies involve outlooks for social protection from a budgetary and social point of view: the assessment of the budgetary costs of ageing, the calculation of social indicators (poverty, inequality), impact assessments of reforms and the simulation of alternative scenarios for economic and social policy measures. The majority of these activities are based on population projections, which are drawn up annually in collaboration with Statistics Belgium.
Head of the directorate: Joost Verlinden - Deputies: Bart Hertveldt
Sectoral, structural and economic issues are studied within the Sectoral Directorate. Since 1997, sustainable development has also been included.
Coordinator: Chantal Kegels
A better comprehension of the structural evolutions of the Belgian economy and of its integration in both Europe and the world is essential to identify the key factors in long-term growth. The structural studies tackle, in particular, the sectoral evolution of productivity and its determinants: technology and capital accumulation, innovation and technological development, entrepreneurialism and market functioning. Furthermore, they analyse the effect of Belgian and European regulation, of international trade and of globalisation on economic growth opportunities in the long term.
Coordinator: Bart Hertveldt
The input-output tables, the environmental economic accounts and other satellite accounts of the national accounts are drawn up with a view to carrying out sectoral and intersectoral analyses.
Coordinator: Alex Van Steenbergen
Besides drawing up the long-term energy outlook for Belgium, the Energy-Climate team analyses the impact of energy and climate policy measures and more generally of environmental taxation. As part of the Federal Planning Bureau’s statutory tasks, the team also deals with issues specific to the gas and electricity sector.
Coordinator: Patricia Delbaere
The Taskforce Sustainable Development is charged with the assessment of the current situation and the policy pursued for sustainable development. It constructs sustainable development scenarios to reach the objectives fixed in the long-term vision adopted by the federal government in 2013. These activities are carried out within the framework of the law of 5 May 1997 on the coordination of the federal policy on sustainable development and provide the basis for the recurring publication of the Federal Reports on Sustainable Development.
Coordinator: Bruno Hoornaert
The Transport team builds and manages a bank of mobility and transport indicators. It also develops and operates the PLANET model used to produce long-term projections of transport demand in Belgium, both for passenger and freight transport, and to analyse the effects of policy measures. Finally, its CASMO model is designed to study the evolution of the car fleet composition in Belgium.
Head of the department: Saskia Weemaes
The Administrative Department provides support activities. It is composed of different cells: informatics, translation, human resources, communication & publication and budget & accounting.
The FPB has close links with the main national and international institutions for economic analysis and information. It also aims to stay in close contact with all organisations involved in the themes it studies (FPS Mobility and Transport, FPS Social Security, etc.). As such, the FPB attends committee meetings on a regular basis:
The FPB is also in close contact with scientific circles as follows:
The Federal Planning Bureau also participates in working groups and networks such as AIECE, ENEPRI, EUKLEMS, HERMREG, NEMESIS and SYMPATIC.
Federal Planning Bureau
