NEWS / Foreign Exchange

Belgian business confidence is expected to stabilize at best in March

The German VAT hike could be having a negative effect on Belgian business confidence in March. The remaining indicators in the EMU due to be published this week are expected to be on the weak side too.

Belgian business confidence is expected to stabilize at best in March, as it had soared unexpectedly in February and also because the ifo business expectations deteriorated. For similar reasons, Italian consumer confidence in March, French consumer spending in February and EMU industrial new orders in January might all have suffered setbacks too. As usual, the EMU trade balance and current account are expected to have deteriorated in January.