The Flemish Government is keeping debt under control

To keep government debt under control, the Flemish Government has approved a debt standard at the request of the Court of Audit. It specifies that that governmental debt may never exceed 65% of the Flemish budget. Today that number hovers around 47%. “This Flemish Government continues to invest, but at the same time ensures that we are not passing the financial buck on to our children and grandchildren,” says the N-VA.

“It is by no means news that the Flemish debt is rising,” the N-VA states. “It is not, however, the case that we as the Flemish Government are suddenly spending significantly more than we are receiving. It is a simple accounting operation, as a result of which we are now including debts that used to be left out of the equation. Or it concerns debts that are shifting from the federal accounts to the Flemish accounts as a result of the sixth state reform.” Furthermore, the majority of the debts in question relate to assets such as schools and residential care facilities. That is very different from debts that arise as a result of budget shortages.

Best student in the class

The N-VA also stresses that the so-called Flemish debt mountain is actually nothing more than a small hill. “Flemish debt accounts for barely 4% of GDP The gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country, both by companies and the government. This term is usually used as a benchmark for a country’s prosperity. This is why the N-VA closely follows the evolution of the Belgian GDP. GDP . By way of comparison, the total national debt of Belgium today has risen to 107% of GDP. So we remain the best student in the Belgian budget class. And within Europe too we are a model region in terms of budget.”