Finding a budgetary agreement is always a delicate exercise. The war in Ukraine, combined with the health crisis, does not facilitate the task of the government, which is counting on additional costs of more than 2 billion euros.
In its budget, the government must take into account four crises: the health crisis, the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine and inflation which continues to increase. The various successive crises have had major consequences on public finances. After controlling and incorporating all crisis-related and other necessary expenditure, the balance is around -20.7 billion euros or around 3.8% of GDP. This is a deterioration of 4.3 billion euros compared to the figures of the monitoring committee.
The federal government has earmarked 825 million euros for the health crisis, 450 million euros for Defense and 800 million euros for Ukraine.
“We had to expand and extend economic support measures to deal with new waves of coronavirus. On top of that, there was the war in Ukraine”declared Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) during the press conference on the federal budget. “Our budget would have been fine without it. This shock is having a huge impact on people’s wallets.”
State Secretary for the Budget Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) added that the war in Ukraine would have long-term consequences for the budget. “These unforeseen additional expenses affect our economy enormously. We will feel it for a long time to come. The crisis in Ukraine will have a greater impact on our economy than the pandemic.”
After the easing of the strictest corona measures, the Belgian economy experienced a strong recovery. As a result, and due to the disruption of many supply chains, Belgium has experienced an unprecedented rise in energy prices. The federal government has therefore decided to put in place various packages of energy measures to protect citizens. It is about 2.046 billion euros from the package of energy measures of March 14 and 18, 2022 which are incorporated in this budgetary control.
30 million for fuel costs
The federal government is also making 30 million euros available to reduce fuel costs for employees who use their own car for business trips.
The Minister of Labor and the Economy Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) explained that the money will be made available to the social partners, who must concretely develop the accompanying measures. The government gives priority to employees who have no alternative but their car to get to and from work. “This concerns, for example, housekeepers, who receive a very limited allowance for this which, given the current fuel prices, is completely insufficient”added Pierre-Yves Dermagne. The government also wants to encourage the use of public transport.
Vivaldi releases an additional 10.5 million euros for food aid.“It’s a 25% increase in current resources”continued the Minister of the Economy.
Finally, an additional 23 million euros are planned for the upgrading of specialized nurses.
