Morale among Belgian businesses fell unexpectedly in December, central bank data showed on Tuesday, as managers in the manufacturing sector became more pessimistic about order book and stock levels. The business confidence index, often referred to as the leading indicator, fell to -6.9 in December from -6.1 in November. It was more than a point below the -5.8 forecast by a Reuters poll of 12 analysts, who had expected some improvement.
December's figures bring an end to four straight months of improvement to business morale in the euro zone's sixth largest economy. The figure was the lowest since a reading of -7.2 in September. "The index ... has fallen slightly in December even if, on the whole, little has changed over the past five months," the country's central bank said in a statement. Earlier this month, Belgium's central bank sharply cut its forecast for economic growth in 2015, predicting a slight slowdown from an already modest expansion in 2014.