Prosperity

In short

  • At present, the financial sector has a higher level of solidity than before the financial crisis. It has managed, for example, to achieve a deleveraging from 31,9 down to 18,3 between the summer of 2007 and march 2012.
  • Belgians are savers by nature: in september 2012, the amount outstanding on savings books was 230,2 billion EUR.
  • For each euro coming in from saving, one euro is invested in lending to households, companies and public authorities.
  • These last few months, credit demand has been on the decline and consequently, lending has reached a stable level.
  • In the long term, Basel III can have repercussions on the availability and the cost of long-term credit.
  • In 2011, there was a substantial increase of Belgian exports, thanks, among other things, to the easy way of corporate lending provided by the financial sector.