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Budget Highlights

2026 initial budget deficit set at €1.7 billion

The budgetary balance amounts to -1.7 billion euros in the 2026 Initial Budget (IB). The Government of Flanders always aims for a balanced budget, the so-called balanced budget target.

How is the budgetary balance calculated?

The difference between the total ESA revenues (61.6 billion euros) and ESA expenditures (66.0 billion euros) equals the consolidated ESA budget balance (-4.5 billion euros).

A number of corrections are applied to obtain the corrected ESA budget balance (-2.9 billion euros):

  • Corrections for expected underutilisation (1,760.8 million euros):
    • University colleges and universities (326.8 million euros)
    • Other types of underutilisation (1,434.1 million euros)
  • Additional ESA corrections (177.5 million euros)

A few specific items are excluded from the balanced budget target:

  • The construction costs of the Oosterweel link (889.9 million euros)
  • Revenues from the Flemish Resilience recovery plan (163.4 million euros)
  • Expenditures for the Flemish Resilience recovery plan (436.4 million euros)

That results in the budgetary balance compared to the balanced budget target (-1.7 billion euros).