Press releases, events

On 18 July 2024, the Federal Planning Bureau, the Brussels Institute for Statistics and Analysis (BISA), Statistics Flanders and the Walloon Institute for Evaluation (IWEPS) published their economic outlook for the three regions.

The Study Committee on Public Investment has, for the first time, published an overview of public investment in Belgium. In 2022, public investment amounted to 2.7% of GDP and investment contributions stood at 0.6%. Without any changes in policy, Belgium will likely not meet the 2030 investment target of 4% of GDP set in the 2020 government agreement. Current investment levels are barely sufficient to meet the required minimum for a possible extension of the adjustment period set out in the European budgetary framework. Furthermore, the Committee recommends establishing a mechanism to coordinate public investment across different levels of government and enhancing transparency as well as consolidating information regarding investment plans. 

The ageing of the population will raise social expenditure from 25,8% of GDP in 2023 to 29,6% in 2050, to finally reach 30,0% in 2070. Elderly people and pensioners face a larger financial risk of poverty than the rest of the population. However, this at-risk-of-poverty rate is strongly reduced when the ownership of the home is taking into account. These are the findings of the Annual Report 2024 of the Study Committee on Ageing.

The 17th meeting of the Belgian Day for Labour Economists (BDLE) was hosted by the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) on Friday, October 7th, 2022.

In the recent past, medium‐term projections were given less attention than short‐term analyses. However, things appear to have evolved and mid‐term prospects seem to be enjoying a renewed interest. Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, many countries have been confronted with large imbalances in terms of high unemployment, unused production capacities or financial deficits. In the longer term, demographic changes, including population ageing, are likely to cause massive changes in the composition of GDP. Addressing these various challenges can only be considered in the context of medium‐ and long‐term scenarios.

Date: December 1^st, 2011.

Time: 10:00 AM

Developments in microsimulation go at a tremendous speed in Europe, and this not only in academic environments, but also in public research institutions and bureaus of statistics. Teams in various countries are working hard to build or further develop all sorts of microsimulation models, often based on administrative data. Other countries have the ambition to start building these kinds of models, or have already started. See the PENMICRO report at http://pensiontalk.blogspot.com/2009/05/feasibility-study-penmicro-monitoring.html for an overview and recent developments of microsimulation in European member states.