In a recent study on Eurozone interest rates compiled by Eric Dor, the Director of Economic Studies at L`Ieseg School of Management in Paris and Lille, Belgium features at the bottom of the ranking with a reported nominal interest rate of 0.03%. The study is based on data from Eurostat and the ECB, and compares interest rates on savings deposits of households in the Eurozone.
Although expanding the study to include other European countries pushes Belgium up to a more comfortable mid-ranking position, and even though a decreasing inflation over the last months improves the situation slightly, it holds true that conditions for savers in Belgium remain worse than for savers in the rest of the Eurozone. Dor holds the ECB monetary policy responsible for consistently low rates within the Eurozone, adding that a lack of political will in Belgium, independent of the political parties in power, to maintain a minimum rate close enough to the inflation rate so as to ensure consistency in the purchasing power of household savings in the country.
To read more on the issue, please see the recently published article in L`Echo: L'épargnant belge reste le moins gâté d'Europe mais...