Belgium

Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GNI adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes "tied" aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively uncorrupt recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 5.7
• Rank: 6

Belgium Strengths

• High net aid volume as a share of the economy (0.41%; rank: 6)
• Small share of tied or partially tied aid (6%; rank: 5)

Belgium Weaknesses

• Selectivity: large share of aid to less poor and relatively less democratic governments (rank: 17)
• Contributes to project proliferation; small average project size (rank: 20)

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 5.4
• Rank: 11

Belgium Weaknesses

• High tariffs on agricultural products (40.4% of the value of imports; rank: 14)
• High agricultural subsidies (equivalent to 14.8% tariff; rank: 20)

Investment

What it measures

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management, and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy and productive investment in developing countries.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 6.2
• Rank: 14

Belgium Strengths

• Employs foreign tax credits to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad
• Provides support for outflows of portfolio investment

Belgium Weaknesses

• Does not provide assistance in identifying direct investment opportunities
• Developing countries are not provided assistance to set up investment promotion agencies
• Does not let investors enjoy developing country tax incentives

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the trasfer of skills when the immigrants return.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 2.9
• Rank: 15

Belgium Weaknesses

• Only a small increase during the 1990s in the number of unskilled immigrants from developing countries living in Belgium (rank by share of population: 18)
• Small share of foreign students from developing countries (33%; rank: 21)

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources, and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 7.0
• Rank: 6

Belgium Strengths

• High gas taxes ($1.04 per liter; rank: 5)
• Low fishing subsidies ($0.10 per person; rank: 8)
• Decrease in greenhouse gas emissions rate in 1995–2005 (average annual growth rate/ GDP, –2.7%; rank: 8)

Belgium Weaknesses

• High greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita (13.8 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 17)

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 2.4
• Rank: 20

Belgium Weaknesses

• High arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments (rank by share of GDP: 18)
• Small financial and personnel contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade (rank by share of GDP: 17)
• No protection of global sea lanes

Technology

Rich countries can contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penelizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.

Belgium Overall

• Score: 4.5
• Rank: 16

Belgium Strengths

• Low share of government R&D expenditure on defense (0.35%; rank: 3)

Belgium Weaknesses

• Low government expenditure on R&D (rank by share of GDP: 16)
• Low tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 15)