Belgian Consumer Sentiment Rises as Unemployment Concern Eases

Belgian consumer confidence improved in September as concern about an increase in unemployment subsided and the outlook for the economic situation remained stable.

The consumer sentiment index for Belgium, the euro area’s sixth-largest economy, increased to minus 14 from minus 16 a month earlier, the Brussels-based National Bank of Belgium said today in an e-mailed statement.

A sub-index gauging households’ assessment of the economy in the coming year held at minus 11, and a gauge measuring concerns about rising unemployment dropped to 40 from 46 in August. A sub-index gauging households’ capacity to save in the next 12 months rose to minus 1 from minus 3.

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