The turnover of enterprises in Belgium, excluding agricultural and financial sectors, amounted to 330.4 billion euros in the fourth quarter 2020, i.e. a 3.8 % decrease compared to the same period the year before.
In the fourth quarter 2020, the COVID-19 crisis has had a negative impact on turnover in almost all economic sectors, due to the new lockdown measures from mid-October in the accommodation and food service activities and from beginning November in other sectors (e.g. closing of theatres, cinemas and concert halls, and of contact professions), and due to the closing of non-essential shops in November.
In the fourth quarter 2020, the most important decreases in turnover compared to the same period in 2019 were registered in the sector ‘Accommodation and food service activities’ (-52 %), in the sector ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ (-36 %), a sector which could only partially restart in August, but which had to close again in November, and in the sector ‘Other service activities’ (-27%), a sector containing, a.o., contact professions. The decrease in turnover is significant in the sector ‘Administrative and support service activities’ (-10 %), which includes travel agencies, tour operators and other reservation services, where activities have almost completely ceased and in the sector ‘Transportation and storage’ (-11 %). The decrease in turnover is less pronounced in the industry (-4.6 %). In trade, the decrease in turnover remains limited to 1.7 %.
However, there are also some good economic news: in three large economic sectors, the turnover has slightly increased in the fourth quarter 2020 compared to the same period in 2019: construction (+0.3 %), the sector ‘Professional, scientific and technical activities’ (+0.6 %) and the sector ‘Information and communication’ (+1.9 %).
The results for the fourth quarter 2020 are provisional. These results can be revised when additional data becomes available.