The Federal Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (photo above) has announced that the new one-year government bond that will be launched on Monday 4 September will offer a net interest rate of 2.81%.
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Net interest rate of 2.81% on new 1-year government bonds
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Those wishing to purchase the bonds can do so via the Federal Debt Agency (Between 24 and 31 August) or at 13 banks. These are Bank Degroof Petercam, Belfius Bank, Beobank, BNP Paribas Fortis, Bpost Bank, Crelan, Deutsche Bank, ING, KBC, Leleux Associated Brokers, Van de PUT & Co and VDK Spaarbank. It will be possible to purchase the bonds for a sum of 100 euro or above.
This is the third government bonds issue this year, but the first that includes short term bonds that tie up the investors’ cash for just one year. The previous bonds release in March raised 262.3 million euro, the highest amount raised by a release of Belgian Government bonds since December 2011.
Interest among the general public for investments in government bonds has increased since the end of the pandemic. In 2022 108.7 million euro was raised by releases of Belgian government bonds. 389.8 million have already been invested in government bonds this year.
Finance Minister calls on banks to increase the interest paid to savers
The Federal Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (Flemish Christian democrat) once again has called on banks to "step up” and to further increase their savings rates "as much possible". Mr Van Peteghem added that “Families and single people deserve a return on their savings that is in line with market conditions. The gap between the interest received by the banks and what they pay out to savers remains too great. This is why we have decided to issue a government bond that is very similar to the classic savings account and with the same withholding tax (15%) on the interest paid".
With the new bonds issue, the Federal Finance Minister hopes to stimulate competition, encourage banks to raise their interest rates but also send a positive signal to the financial markets.