The Cash, Debt and Guarantee Management Report 2021 from the Department of Finance and Budget provides an overview of the cash, debt, and guarantee management of the Flemish government in 2021.
Just like in 2020, 2021 was another exceptionally challenging year due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis. This had a major impact on the budget balance and, consequently, on the evolution of debt. The additional expenditure from the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic also made sound cash management more challenging.
The report covers the following aspects:
- Net financing requirement (NFR) – this amounted to 3.911 billion euros in 2021, which was less favourable compared to 2019, the last full year without any COVID restrictions.
- Consolidated debt – at the end of 2021 this was 33,350.44 million euros, an increase of 3,075.54 million euros compared to the end of 2020.
- Direct debt – this was 17.816 billion euros at the end of 2021, a strong increase of 3.881 billion euros (27.85% in relative terms) compared to the outstanding direct debt at the end of 2020.
- Guaranteed debt – despite the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, this increased only slightly in 2021 to 12.319 billion euros at the end of the year, including 10.181 billion euros of consolidated guaranteed debt.
- Rating of the Flemish Community/Region – Fitch confirmed the AA rating of Flanders and revised its outlook from negative to stable, the highest of all Belgian regions and communities.