Belgium: Consumer confidence recovers somewhat in July; business confidence deteriorates
The consumer confidence indicator produced by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) climbed from -3.0 points in June to 0.0 points in July, the first uptick in four months. July’s reading was driven largely by optimism toward household savings, as well as by decreasing pessimism toward the country’s macroeconomic situation and consumers’ personal financial situation. Meanwhile, consumers’ views on the domestic labor market were neither optimistic nor pessimistic.
On the other hand, the NBB’s business confidence survey fell in July, dipping 1.9 points to minus 1.3 points—signaling a deterioration of the business environment. In particular, the worsening of business conditions in July was driven by downward revisions to firms’ demand and hiring forecasts.