The FPB produces macroeconomic forecasts for the federal government within the framework of the preparation of the federal budget (September) and of the budget review (February). The board of the National Accounts Institute (http://inr-icn.fgov.be) has the final responsibility for these forecasts (also known as the Economic Budget). The forecasts focus on the GDP components, both from an expenditure perspective (consumption, gross capital formation, exports and imports) and from a revenue perspective. They also deal with the revenue and expenditure flows between the different institutional sectors, inflation and the labour market.
Methods and instruments
The two main instruments are:
the short-term national macroeconomic models Modtrim I (annual model) and Modtrim II (quarterly model)
the system of leading indicators of the FPB
Periodical publications
Economic Budget (half-yearly, in February and September)
Business cycle analyses in the three first editions of the Short Term Update (March, June and September)
Data
Economic Budget 2007 – September 2006 – Appendix of statistics
