180th Book – Part III: budgetary policy of the Federal State

In its 180th Book – Part III, the Belgian Court of Audit reported to the Parliament on its review of the Federal State's 2022 budgetary policy. It compared the set budgetary objectives and figures to the results. The budget balance on an ESA basis of all public authorities was -3.5% of the Belgian GDP and the debt ratio 104.3%, which exceeded the objectives of the European stability programme for the period 2022–2025. The budget balance on a cash basis (-16.7 billion euro) outperformed the estimates by 4.2 billion euro, mainly because the tax revenues were 5.2 billion euro (4.2%) higher than anticipated due to the higher than expected nominal growth of the GDP. The Court of Audit also examined the extent to which the budgetary, energy and recovery plans agreed by the government in 2022 were implemented.