In the stress test results of Europe’s 50 largest financial institutions published today by the European Banking Authority (EBA), the Belgian banks KBC and Belfius perform well above the European average and demonstrate good resilience in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.

According to the flash estimate, the gross domestic product (GDP) was up by 1.4 % in the second quarter of 2021 against the previous quarter. Compared to the second quarter of 2020, which was seriously affected by the COVID-19 crisis, economic growth amounted to 14.5 %. However economic activity has still not regained the level prevailing before the COVID-19 crisis.

The business barometer is still at the all-time high reached last month. 

The business climate is improving in the manufacturing industry and even more strongly in the trade sector. In contrast, confidence among company managers has dropped back in business-related services and most notably in the building industry.

Consumers are again a bit more confident about the outlook for the jobs market. Conversely, they are slightly less optimistic about their future financial situation.

The loss of turnover due to the coronavirus crisis that Belgian firms report was down from 10 % in May to 8 % in June. The improvement is particularly marked for firms in the hospitality sector, and that is obviously due to the re-opening. The other indicators also show that the impact of coronavirus on the Belgian economy is waning. These are the findings of the last regular ERMG survey of Belgian firms, conducted at the beginning of last week. Nonetheless, there are some serious supply-side problems which could hamper the recovery.

The Financial Market Infrastructures and Payment Services Report 2021 covers a wide range of current, relevant topics from the activities of BigTech companies in the retail payments ecosystem and proposed regulation on crypto-assets to an analysis of a potential digital euro and enhancing digital operational resilience of the financial sector.