The biggest fall in imports and exports

According to figures released by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) the corona crisis has had a big impact on Belgian exports and imports. During April our country’s exports were down 24% compared with April 2019. Meanwhile, during April we imported 28.6% fewer goods from abroad than was the case a year ago. The figures are below those for the Eurozone as a whole that saw a fall 29% fall in exports in April compared with export levels in April 2019.

At the start of the corona crisis in March Belgian exports were down 6.1%, while imports were down 8.8%. However, here in Belgium the lockdown measures were only in force during the latter half of the month. The National Bank of Belgium says that this is the sharpest fall in imports and exports since the banking and financial crisis in 2008.

In the 19 countries that make up the Eurozone exports have fallen by 29.3% since the start of the corona crisis. Exports have not only fallen to other EU countries, but also to other countries such as China, the United States, Russia and the UK.

Meanwhile, the fall in imports into Eurozone countries during April was an average of 24.8% compared with April 2019.