Category: Money

Customers of KPMG Belgium could already use the real-time accounting software of Walloon Brabant tech gem Odoo. That is now being extended to all of Odoo’s software services. Companies will thus find everything they need for their digital transformation in one place. Odoo made its name with a complete software package for the business operations of small and medium-sized companies. E-commerce, marketing, human resources, customer relationship management, project management, everything is in there. Founded in 2004, the tech company from the Walloon Brabant town of Ramillies broadened its target market…

Read More

With Western nations poised to hit Russia with a new round of international sanctions, Belgium’s lucrative involvement with the diamond trade is again coming under scrutiny, with suggestions that the country could crack down on the imports to apply more pressure on the aggressor state. The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have all imposed an embargo on the import of Russian stones but as yet, the EU has not followed suit. Belgium’s Federal Government has been accused of working behind the scenes to protect the profitable sector that…

Read More

Laws on ‘luxury’ exist to some extent in many countries. They can be conditionally divided into progressive taxes (where the rich pay higher rates) and direct taxes, where the cost of certain groups of goods includes a surcharge because supposedly only the wealthy buy these goods. Both of these ideas are nothing more than a haircut for ordinary citizens. The threshold of wealth will continuously decrease, and in the end, any normally working Kazakhstan citizen will be considered rich. Let’s take a look of one of the riches men of…

Read More

Consumer confidence in Belgium has fallen to its lowest level since the start of this year, as rising unemployment and high inflation have left citizens increasingly pessimistic about the country’s economic prospects. In a press release published on Monday, the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) noted that this downward trend “offset the favourable development observed last month”. “On a personal level, households expect to save less in the coming months,” the NBB noted. “They are also slightly less optimistic about their financial situation for the next twelve months.”

Read More

While resentment among savers is growing over the low interest rate on the savings book, banks are publishing mega profits thanks to the high interest rate. What’s going on? KBC made a profit of 882 million euros in the first three months of 2023, the bank-insurer communicated this week. This is almost twice as much as in the first quarter of last year, when a profit of 452 million euros was recorded. KBC is not the only bank making huge profits these days. France’S BNP Paribas, the largest bank in…

Read More

Home Invest Belgium has seen strong results in the first quarter, as has the occupancy rate. This was revealed on Wednesday evening in a press release from the real estate group. The EPRA result increased by 15.9 percent to 3.1 million euros in the first three months of 2023. Per share, this was 0.17 euros compared to 0.16 euros in the first three months of last year. The real value of the real estate portfolio increased to 774 million euros. More than 93 percent of this consists of residential real…

Read More

Companies are increasingly capitalising on consumers’ climate sensitivity and the willingness to pay more for products with sustainable labels. Yet experts are raising the alarm that many of these labels are, in fact, misleading. More manufacturers are branding their products with a ‘carbon neutral’ logo to mark that “all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been offset.” However, consumer protection organisation Test-Achats and climate think tank Carbon Market Watch are arguing it constitutes greenwashing. “A carbon-neutral claim on a product gives the impression that the product has no impact on the…

Read More

Half a million households will see their temporary entitlement to a social tariff expire from 1 July, which could result in a sharp hike in their energy bills. The social tariff offers reduced energy prices to certain vulnerable households, such as people who receive a disability allowance. During the pandemic, the government temporarily expanded the tariff to include around 500,000 people, including people with increased social security benefits. The support was again extended multiple times during last year’s energy crisis. This extension also now applies to those who benefit from…

Read More

”The European billions for the climate transition must go to the right people, ” write Benjamin Clarysse (policy coordinator Bond Beter Leefmilieu), Vanya Verschoore (General Coordinator Reset.Flanders), Heidi Degerickx (General Coordinator Network Against Poverty), Dirk Masquillier (chairman SAAMO), Joeri Thijs (spokesperson Greenpeace), Peter Wouters (chairman Beweging.Net), Dirk Holemans (General Coordinator Oikos), Anton Gerits (General Coordinator REScoop Vlaanderen) and Leen Van Waes (General Coordinator Masereelfonds) in an opinion piece. A lot of ink has already flowed about the costs for citizens due to the new European carbon price. But what our…

Read More

Belgium’s stock market authority, the FSMA, has referred the file on the debacle at Bit4You, Belgium’s first cryptocurrency trading platform, to the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, L’Echo reported on Monday. The Brussels company court has also appointed two provisional administrators, lawyer Nicholas Ouchinsky and auditor Dirk Smets, to examine options for rescuing the platform and protecting the interests of customers. They will have to report back to the court in the coming weeks. Some 41,800 Belgian clients have invested around €13 million on the platform, but these funds are currently…

Read More