According to figures released by the National Bank of Belgium on Tuesday Belgian foreign trade has fallen again in in recent months compared with the same period last year. However, exports have remained higher than imports. Imports of electric cars have fallen considerably during the past year or so.
According to figures released by the National Bank of Belgium on Tuesday Belgian foreign trade has fallen again in recent months compared with the same period last year. However, exports have remained higher than imports. Imports of electric cars have fallen considerably during the past year or so.
This is surprising, as imports of vehicles especially electric vehicles were still buoyant in 2023. However, this is no longer the case and during the first 8 months of 2024 imports of fully electric vehicles fell by 20.4% compared with the same period last year.” This is a sharper fall than for imports as a whole that were down by by 9.5 %. Imports of vehicles with combustion engines also fell, by 17.6%. However imports of hybrid vehicles increased by 5.4 %.
Several explanations
According to the National Bank, there are several explanations for the fall in imports of electric vehicles and these are not unique to Belgium. There is the uncertainty surrounding tax breaks for those that purchase electric cars. The high cost of electric cars combined with higher interest rates is also a factor as is the limited provision of charging infrastructure. Furthermore, there are supply problems and the import duties levied on electric cars built in China.
During the first half of the year Belgium recorded a trade surplus of almost 15 billion euro.