Federal Planning Bureau

History

When the FPB was founded on 14 October 1959, it carried the name of Programming Bureau. Its mission was to elaborate the economic policy framework, which had been absent until then, by submitting proposals to the Ministerial Committee for Economic and Social Coordination. In 1970, the Programming Bureau’s name was changed into Planning Bureau, in accordance with the law of 15 July of that same year. The economic programmes are replaced by economic plans marked by a more formalized approach and regional components. From 1980 onward, the Planning Bureau abandoned its former approach and focused on the elaboration of economic medium-term projections and impact studies on different subjects. In 1994, in the wake of the fourth Belgian state reform, the Planning Bureau’s name was once more changed into the Federal Planning Bureau. From then on, the Bureau would also be charged with forecasts for the government budget.

List of commissioners of the Federal Planning Bureau since its founding

Albert Kervyn de Lettenhove (1959–1966)

Claude Josz (1966–1969)

Robert Maldague (1969–1991)

Henri Bogaert (1992–2014)

Philippe Donnay (2014–2021)

Saskia Weemaes (2021–2023)

Baudoin Regout (2023–present)

The FPB makes projections and evaluates past or intended policy in the following areas:

Macroeconomic forecasting, projections and analyses

Regional economy

International economy