Belgium's economic growth slowed in the first quarter of the year as net exports made a negative contribution and employment rose only marginally, preliminary data from the National Bank of Belgium showed Tuesday.
Gross domestic product grew a seasonally-and-calendar adjusted 0.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015, when the economy expanded 0.5 percent. In the first quarter of 2015, growth was 0.3 percent.
On a year-on-year basis, GDP rose 1.5 percent in the first quarter, which was the same pace as seen in the previous three months. In the first three months of 2015, annual growth was 1.2 percent.
Value added grew 0.2 percent in industry, 1.9 percent in construction and 0.1 percent in the services sector.
Domestic demand increased 0.3 percent, propped up by both households and businesses. Household spending rose 0.1 percent and fixed asset investment grew 1 percent.
State spending and investment increased 0.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, exports grew 0.7 percent and imports rose 0.8 percent. Thus, net exports contributed negatively to growth.
Compared to the previous three months, employment rose just 0.2 percent in the first quarter.
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