The NBB keeps the CCyB rate at 0%

Pursuant to its macroprudential powers laid down in the Belgian Banking Law of 2014, the NBB decided on 8 December 2020 to maintain the countercyclical buffer rate for credit risk exposures to the Belgian private non-financial sector at 0 % for the first quarter of 2021.

Given the significant challenges the global economy is now facing, the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) had announced, on 11 March 2020, the full release of the countercyclical buffer.

Based on current projections and risk assessments, the NBB expects not to increase the CCyB at least until 2021 Q3 (in line with previous notifications). A reactivation of the CCyB in the short run seems hence very unlikely. During this period, the NBB will also interpret cautiously signals from standard indicators of the credit cycle and override the potentially procyclical and erroneous signals that could follow from specific indicators, such as the credit gap – measuring the deviation of the credit-to-GDP ratio from its long-term trend –, as a consequence of a significant decrease in GDP.

The NBB will review the situation on a quarterly basis.