What you see is not what you get: Belgian governments are not poor

Perception often takes precedence over reality these days. In a series of articles, Belga English considers how Belgium is perceived and compares it with the facts. Today: yes, Belgian authorities have very high deficits and debts, but they also have a very high income.

Budget cuts have been at the top of the political agenda for half a century. Every year, several times a year, the national and regional authorities face deficits that are too high. Following 2024’s local elections, all municipalities are now also reviewing their income and expenditure.

What’s the result of all those “harsh budget cuts”? A total sovereign debt of 105 per cent of GDP and a yearly deficit of 4.5 per cent of GDP.

Budget cuts are decided a couple of times a year, while the decisions to spend money are made daily. Belgian authorities are omnipresent in the labour market, in the economy, in society. Public expenditure accounts for about 55 per cent of GDP.

A recent report from Belgium’s National Bank sums up all the sectors where Belgian authorities spend much more money than comparable countries: education (schools and teachers), the economy (companies, labour market), the functioning of all public authorities (the different kinds of civil servants and public services).

Although there’s always a cry for even more money in the media, the fact is that efficiency in Belgium is far below that of other eurozone countries.

Another report, from the federal authorities themselves, shows that a lot of the money they spend is unaccounted for. Nobody has an overview of where tens of billions of euros go. This expenditure has many names: subsidies, transfers, endowments, grants, allowances. Most of the time, there’s no evaluation. Very often, there aren’t even any performance indicators.

It would be unfair to blame only politicians. Yes, they love to give away public money. In a very competitive democracy, with many political parties, it’s not easy to get enough votes to win elections.

But almost all other parts of society are also to blame. Companies, trade unions, NGOs, other organisations, citizens… Trying to get public money for your project or plans is very “Belgian”.

To sum up: Belgian authorities have huge amounts of money. But if you have enough money to buy a Ferrari and end up buying a Rolls-Royce, you are indebted, not poor.

_{© BELGA PHOTO LAURENT CAVENATI ​ ​ and HATIM KAGHAT}