'%20id='ico-down'%20stroke='%23000000'%20stroke-width='1.5'%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(1092.250000,%20254.750000)'%3e%3cpolyline%20id='Path-2-Copy-4'%20transform='translate(5.500000,%202.750000)%20scale(1,%20-1)%20rotate(-180.000000)%20translate(-5.500000,%20-2.750000)%20'%20points='0%200%205.5%205.5%2011%200'%3e%3c/polyline%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
16 November 2007
BRUSSELS – Belgium is paying five points higher extra interest on its loans as a result of the ongoing political crisis, De Tijd calculated on Friday.
Foreign investors are concerned about the political impasse and only want to lend to Belgium if they receive a risk premium. The ongoing crisis is causing worry on the financial markets.
On Thursday British newspaper The Daily Telegraph published an article suggesting that Belgium might no longer pay its debts. Certainly not if the country is headed for a split.
Foreign Affairs Minister Karel De Gucht, a negotiator for liberal Open VLD, also fears that the political deadlock gripping the liberal and Christian democrat prospective coalition parties will have negative effects on the economy.
“The chaos of the last 1970s is the disastrous scenario that may be repeated, or even surpassed,” De Gucht warns.
[Copyright Expatica News 2007]
Subject: Belgian news