Belgium - Gross capital formation (constant 2010 US$)

The latest value for Gross capital formation (constant 2010 US$) in Belgium was 115,382,000,000 as of 2020. Over the past 50 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 124,521,000,000 in 2019 and 36,023,310,000 in 1983.

Definition: Gross capital formation (formerly gross domestic investment) consists of outlays on additions to the fixed assets of the economy plus net changes in the level of inventories. Fixed assets include land improvements (fences, ditches, drains, and so on); plant, machinery, and equipment purchases; and the construction of roads, railways, and the like, including schools, offices, hospitals, private residential dwellings, and commercial and industrial buildings. Inventories are stocks of goods held by firms to meet temporary or unexpected fluctuations in production or sales, and "work in progress." According to the 1993 SNA, net acquisitions of valuables are also considered capital formation. Data are in constant 2010 U.S. dollars.

Source: World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files.

See also:

Year Value
1970 39,764,680,000
1971 38,950,740,000
1972 38,919,430,000
1973 43,525,760,000
1974 48,004,040,000
1975 41,598,160,000
1976 45,045,890,000
1977 45,386,150,000
1978 46,423,650,000
1979 46,572,830,000
1980 53,643,760,000
1981 43,823,900,000
1982 40,525,120,000
1983 36,023,310,000
1984 40,592,770,000
1985 39,311,790,000
1986 41,500,200,000
1987 45,334,310,000
1988 53,887,900,000
1989 59,741,280,000
1990 64,323,980,000
1991 61,991,450,000
1992 63,125,360,000
1993 61,259,040,000
1994 63,565,100,000
1995 66,180,000,000
1996 66,454,940,000
1997 71,558,260,000
1998 72,657,340,000
1999 75,426,570,000
2000 80,849,530,000
2001 78,663,470,000
2002 74,955,250,000
2003 75,182,370,000
2004 83,165,870,000
2005 89,953,310,000
2006 93,274,970,000
2007 101,415,000,000
2008 103,479,000,000
2009 94,441,730,000
2010 96,538,940,000
2011 104,019,000,000
2012 102,090,000,000
2013 98,225,060,000
2014 103,540,000,000
2015 109,240,000,000
2016 114,869,000,000
2017 116,503,000,000
2018 121,943,000,000
2019 124,521,000,000
2020 115,382,000,000

Development Relevance: An economy's growth is measured by the change in the volume of its output or in the real incomes of its residents. The 2008 United Nations System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) offers three plausible indicators for calculating growth: the volume of gross domestic product (GDP), real gross domestic income, and real gross national income. The volume of GDP is the sum of value added, measured at constant prices, by households, government, and industries operating in the economy. GDP accounts for all domestic production, regardless of whether the income accrues to domestic or foreign institutions.

Limitations and Exceptions: Because policymakers have tended to focus on fostering the growth of output, and because data on production are easier to collect than data on spending, many countries generate their primary estimate of GDP using the production approach. Moreover, many countries do not estimate all the components of national expenditures but instead derive some of the main aggregates indirectly using GDP (based on the production approach) as the control total. Data on capital formation may be estimated from direct surveys of enterprises and administrative records or based on the commodity flow method using data from production, trade, and construction activities. The quality of data on government fixed capital formation depends on the quality of government accounting systems (which tend to be weak in developing countries). Measures of fixed capital formation by households and corporations - particularly capital outlays by small, unincorporated enterprises - are usually unreliable. Estimates of changes in inventories are rarely complete but usually include the most important activities or commodities. In some countries these estimates are derived as a composite residual along with household final consumption expenditure. According to national accounts conventions, adjustments should be made for appreciation of the value of inventory holdings due to price changes, but this is not always done. In highly inflationary economies this element can be substantial. Measures of growth in consumption and capital formation are subject to two kinds of inaccuracy. The first stems from the difficulty of measuring expenditures at current price levels. The second arises in deflating current price data to measure volume growth, where results depend on the relevance and reliability of the price indexes and weights used. Measuring price changes is more difficult for investment goods than for consumption goods because of the one-time nature of many investments and because the rate of technological progress in capital goods makes capturing change in quality difficult. (An example is computers - prices have fallen as quality has improved.) Several countries estimate capital formation from the supply side, identifying capital goods entering an economy directly from detailed production and international trade statistics. This means that the price indexes used in deflating production and international trade, reflecting delivered or offered prices, will determine the deflator for capital formation expenditures on the demand side.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Gross domestic product (GDP) from the expenditure side is made up of household final consumption expenditure, general government final consumption expenditure, gross capital formation (private and public investment in fixed assets, changes in inventories, and net acquisitions of valuables), and net exports (exports minus imports) of goods and services. Such expenditures are recorded in purchaser prices and include net taxes on products.

Aggregation method: Gap-filled total

Base Period: 2010

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Economic Policy & Debt Indicators

Sub-Topic: National accounts