25% OF BELGIAN ENTERPRISES ARE AT RISK OF BANKRUPTCY

 Specialists of the Graydon consulting firm prepared a report on the state of the Belgian economy based on an analysis of the financial condition of bars, restaurants, hairdressers and shops in six cities, including the capital Brussels.

The data obtained indicate that 25.1% of companies in Brussels are on the verge of bankruptcy and need urgent investment from outside. Experts note that most of the ruining companies on this list (19.5%) were quite successful before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the five cities of Wallonia, where Graydon's researchers worked, they found even more enterprises facing bankruptcy - 28.3%.

At the same time, 24% of firms did not experience any liquidity problems and felt quite confident until March 2020.

In fact, different problems might be hidden behind the statistics obtained, depending on the location of the companies and the scope of their activities. The experts analyzed the activities of firms from five cities in Wallonia. For example, hard times have come for the university town of Louvain-la-Neuve, where unique museums are located and the streets are always lively. Here the leisure sphere was under pressure.

The situation is different in industrial Mons, Liege or metropolitan Namur.

Many businesses in Charleroi, known to be an important hub for transporting goods by air, water and land, have been hit by the potential closure.

The head of the R&D division of Graydon, Eric Van den Brule, last fall expressed his views about the necessity to save more than 28 thousand companies and about 81.6 thousand employees of Antwerp who were at risk to be unemployed. For this, according to a representative of Graydon, about € 10 billion had to be allocated. How much money is needed to help companies from the six cities selected this time is not specified.

Optimism is encouraged by the fact that almost half of the companies (49.1% in Brussels, 43.3% in Wallonia), which were doing well before the pandemic, according to research data, continue to feel good enough with liquidity reserves.

The most difficult situation, experts say, is in the HoReCa market. Only 25% of cafes and restaurants in Brussels remain afloat. In Wallonia, this figure is even lower - only 22%.