Entraves
Não obstante, a criação do Mercado Único sem fronteiras, com as quatro liberdades asseguradas e os constantes progressos registados (em termos de aprofundamento e reforço), e tendo em conta que se trata de um processo dinâmico, existem, ainda, lacunas em áreas onde a integração tem avançado mais lentamente, assim como vários entraves/obstáculos, que dificultam o bom funcionamento do Mercado Único (The Single Market Scoreboard | Relatório Anual sobre o Mercado Único de 2023 | Relatório Anual sobre o Controlo da Aplicação do Direito da UE).
Belgium has a strategic geographical location, situating‑from countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, very important economic partners. This centrality in the EU allows Belgium to be a gateway in Europe and an attractive platform for trade and investment, still being the Headquarters of EU and NATO institutions.
Their skilled workmanship, the attractive business environment for Foreign Direct Investment, the remarkable level of investment in R&D and its diverse industrial and commercial base, make Belgium a strongly targeted export economy (about 84 .0% of GDP, in 2023). It has an extremely developed network of transportation infrastructure (withstanding for the Antwerp Harbor, the 2nd major in the EU) and technologies (namely telecommunications). The service sector is equally important with about 78.1% of GDP, in 2023, namely, the chemist and pharmacist.
In 2022, the growth of Belgian GDP decelerated to 3.0%, according to EIU, and it is estimated that in 2023 it was accentuated its slowdown to 1.4%, by virtue of restrictive monetary policy, consumption erosion due to inflation, energy crisis, and poor global economic dynamism. This declining trend is expected to deepen in 2024 (1.1%), translating persistence, in general, of these factors and breaking in competitiveness associated with the mechanism of wage indexation. Additionally, a point inflection is projected to the inflation rate reduction trajectory (2.4%).
In terms of investment opportunities, Belgium could be an interesting market in areas such as fashion, agri-food and beverage, health and life science ranks, as well as metal, metallomechanics and equipment.
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Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay