The health crisis has caused "permanent damage" to the belgian economy – structural increase in unemployment, budget deficit 'unsustainable', bankruptcies, reduced trade and led to a cumulative loss of 47 billion euros, it emerged on Monday of the presentation of the prospects of the national Bank (NBB).

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The containment has had economic consequences that have never been seen since the Second world War or the 1920s, summarized the governor of the NBB, Pierre Wunsch, during a press conference by video-conference. The gross domestic product is expected to shrink by 9 % in 2020, and even up to 13.4 % in the case of a violent second wave of the epidemic.