Belgian business confidence improves in June

Business confidence in Belgium turned up in June, as manufacturers turned in a more favourable assessment of the present situation as regards company order books as well as stocks.

The Belgian central bank’s business confidence gauge turned up after a fall of -2.8 in May to 0.7 in June.

In parallel, consumer confidence improved for a second month running in July, with the BCB’s index rising from a reading of -6 to -4, boosted by improvements in the sub-indices tracking the economic situation in Belgium (from -11 to -6) and household savings (from -6 to -4).

“In particular, prospects for the general economic situation were seen in a much brighter light. On the other hand, after the greatly improved assessment of the previous month, fears of an increase in unemployment were slightly higher in July,” the monetary authority said in a statement.