The slight pick-up in Belgium's quarterly GDP growth from 0.2% in Q4 to 0.3% in Q1 confirms that the economy got off to slow start in 2015. Indeed, the annual rate of expansion actually slowed a touch from 1.0% to 0.9%.
But consumer confidence was much stronger in Q1 than in Q4, implying that household expenditure might have contributed positively to growth. And the latest trade data suggest that net exports might also have boosted growth, albeit largely thanks to a fall in imports.
April's EC survey, released this morning, suggests that annual GDP growth might have edged up at the beginning of Q2. But it still seems unlikely that growth will be fast enough to generate strong upward pressure on prices.
"Belgium's economy is sometimes seen as a bellwether for the performance of the currency union as a whole. Indeed, there is a fairly close association between GDP growth in Belgium and the euro-zone. On this basis, today's data suggest that the euro-zone's economy might not have gathered much pace in the first quarter of the year. This is yet another reminder that a strong recovery in the euro-zone is far from guaranteed." said Capital Economics in a report
