4 ms·

> Belgium is nearly bankrupt can anyone jumpstart me on this, since when is belgium bankrupt?

by ramon156 6mo ago

fazgha 6mo ago
I had the same thought. Even we have a high debt ratio (near 107% of GDP), we can still pay this debt.
- peterfirefly 6mo ago
  If you want to. Like Italy and France, there is no sign visible from the outside that you are.
  - teamonkey 6mo ago
    They’ve not been defaulting on government bonds, therefore they’re paying the debt.
JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
> since when is belgium bankrupt? It's not. Belgium is rated investment grade by all three agencies [1]. The cost to insure its debt implies a <2% chance of default in the next 5 years [2], lower than America [3]; the IMF assesses its "overall risk of sovereign stress...as moderate" [4]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_credit_rating#Fitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_credit_ra... [2] https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/belgium/5-years/ https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/bel... [3] https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/united-states/5-years/ https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/uni... [4] https://www.imf.org/en/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1belea2025001-print-pdf.pdf https://www.imf.org/en/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/en...
hylaride 6mo ago
Bankrupt is a politically loaded term, but they have very high debt and taxes, political gridlock (it is very divided among French and Flemish linguistic lines, plus all the other traditional left/right polarization), and it is all but impossible to make reforms. IIRC there was no sitting government for 500 days at some point. It's also got all the classic problems of an aging population. Belgium is a curious country that was formed via historical quirks around religion (many Flemish/Dutch speaking catholics not wanting to be part of protestant Netherlands, but that is a gross oversimplification and the history is very complex - read up on wikipedia if curious). Historically the Flemish were the poorer part of the country, but after deindustrialization the story flipped as most of the industry was in the French parts. The result is bitterness that holds the whole country back.
- thrownthatway 6mo ago
  Good job. Now detail three strengths Belgium posses. If you hyper focus on the problems, you’ll be completely oblivious to the solutions.
  - hylaride 6mo ago
    They asked if it was bankrupt, not for a feel good or balanced essay. That being said, Belgium can be and is wonderful. I'm a geopolitical nerd and I loved touring the WW1 battlefields. Ghent is one of my favourite mid-sized cities in the world! It's got some of the best gothic architecture around, an amazing and creative beer scene, and is not overrun with tourists the way Bruges is. I was there for a conference (I'm Canadian) with a colleague who grew up in Paris. He literally said "If I knew Belgium had this, I would have visited far more often". Belgium gets a bad rap because it got so hammered in both world wars and if you just visit Brussels you're left with the impression that it has little history outside of one preserved tourist block.
    - deleted 6mo ago
      [deleted]
    - thrownthatway 6mo ago
      You still didn’t answers the question. I’ll get the ball rolling. Belgium is tiny about 30,000 square kilometres. But it produces a metric fuck tonne of food. You only got to come up with two more now. C’mon, you can do eeeeit!
    - thrownthatway 6mo ago
      Also… > They asked I don’t understand this approach. You’re on an open discussion board. Yeah, they asked. Now I’m asking something. Or do you expect the chair to bang their gavel and tell me I’m out of order.
peterfirefly 6mo ago
It isn't, but it is inching closer. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w/2-22012026-ap#estat-inpage-nav-heading-1 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w... Debt to GDP ratio of 107%, only Greece, Italy, and France are worse. Even Spain and Portugal are better! It is frightening how many member states are over 80% when they are supposed to be at 60% or better.

> Belgium is nearly bankrupt can anyone jumpstart me on this, since when is belgium bankrupt?

fazgha 6mo ago

I had the same thought. Even we have a high debt ratio (near 107% of GDP), we can still pay this debt.

peterfirefly 6mo ago
If you want to. Like Italy and France, there is no sign visible from the outside that you are.
- teamonkey 6mo ago
  They’ve not been defaulting on government bonds, therefore they’re paying the debt.

JumpCrisscross 6mo ago

> since when is belgium bankrupt? It's not. Belgium is rated investment grade by all three agencies [1]. The cost to insure its debt implies a <2% chance of default in the next 5 years [2], lower than America [3]; the IMF assesses its "overall risk of sovereign stress...as moderate" [4]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_credit_rating#Fitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_credit_ra... [2] https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/belgium/5-years/ https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/bel... [3] https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/united-states/5-years/ https://www.worldgovernmentbonds.com/cds-historical-data/uni... [4] https://www.imf.org/en/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1belea2025001-print-pdf.pdf https://www.imf.org/en/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/en...

hylaride 6mo ago

Bankrupt is a politically loaded term, but they have very high debt and taxes, political gridlock (it is very divided among French and Flemish linguistic lines, plus all the other traditional left/right polarization), and it is all but impossible to make reforms. IIRC there was no sitting government for 500 days at some point. It's also got all the classic problems of an aging population. Belgium is a curious country that was formed via historical quirks around religion (many Flemish/Dutch speaking catholics not wanting to be part of protestant Netherlands, but that is a gross oversimplification and the history is very complex - read up on wikipedia if curious). Historically the Flemish were the poorer part of the country, but after deindustrialization the story flipped as most of the industry was in the French parts. The result is bitterness that holds the whole country back.

thrownthatway 6mo ago
Good job. Now detail three strengths Belgium posses. If you hyper focus on the problems, you’ll be completely oblivious to the solutions.
- hylaride 6mo ago
  They asked if it was bankrupt, not for a feel good or balanced essay. That being said, Belgium can be and is wonderful. I'm a geopolitical nerd and I loved touring the WW1 battlefields. Ghent is one of my favourite mid-sized cities in the world! It's got some of the best gothic architecture around, an amazing and creative beer scene, and is not overrun with tourists the way Bruges is. I was there for a conference (I'm Canadian) with a colleague who grew up in Paris. He literally said "If I knew Belgium had this, I would have visited far more often". Belgium gets a bad rap because it got so hammered in both world wars and if you just visit Brussels you're left with the impression that it has little history outside of one preserved tourist block.
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
  - thrownthatway 6mo ago
    You still didn’t answers the question. I’ll get the ball rolling. Belgium is tiny about 30,000 square kilometres. But it produces a metric fuck tonne of food. You only got to come up with two more now. C’mon, you can do eeeeit!
  - thrownthatway 6mo ago
    Also… > They asked I don’t understand this approach. You’re on an open discussion board. Yeah, they asked. Now I’m asking something. Or do you expect the chair to bang their gavel and tell me I’m out of order.

peterfirefly 6mo ago

It isn't, but it is inching closer. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w/2-22012026-ap#estat-inpage-nav-heading-1 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-euro-indicators/w... Debt to GDP ratio of 107%, only Greece, Italy, and France are worse. Even Spain and Portugal are better! It is frightening how many member states are over 80% when they are supposed to be at 60% or better.