The Bank of Belgium’s Annual Report for the year 2022 reflects a challenging and eventful year marked by global and national economic uncertainties. The report highlights the impact of the war led by Russia in Ukraine, rampant inflation, and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic as central concerns for the European Central Bank (ECB) throughout the year. The bank established a taskforce to collect and analyze data on the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, including trade with Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, financial risks for Belgian banks and insurers, consequences of commercial boycott, and energy prices and inflation. The bank developed a data dashboard to provide valuable information to policymakers, politicians, academics, and journalists.
The report also discusses the ECB’s monetary policy, which became less accommodative in 2022 to temper the high level of inflation, as expected. This had negative effects on the bank’s annual results, a situation that has been repeatedly discussed in the bank’s annual reports and market communications. The report also highlights the progress made in the implementation of the bank’s 2025 strategic plan, including achievements in becoming one of the most attractive employers in the country, advancements in real estate projects, a new organizational structure for data collection, and the launch of the Bank’s blog as a new communication channel. The bank is also fostering an innovative culture and has been engaged in strategic thinking about its role as a supervisory authority, particularly in the digital realm.
Corporate social responsibility, diversity, and inclusion are also emphasized in the report, with a comprehensive chapter summarizing the highlights in these areas. The report mentions the challenges faced by the bank, including the retirement of over 25% of its employees by 2025, standardization of internal processes, providing information and recommendations to support government decisions in a changing external environment, and managing increased demand for its expertise and participation in public debates. Flexibility and agility are emphasized as important qualities for the institution.
Overall, the report provides insights into the Bank of Belgium’s activities in 2022, including its efforts to address the economic impact of global events, implement its strategic plan, and fulfill its role as a central bank serving society with professionalism and motivation.
Additionally, the report mentions the Bank’s strategic objective of providing economic and financial data and analysis, which could potentially involve the use of NLP for data collection, processing, and analysis to generate insights and forecasts. Overall, while the report does not provide detailed information on the Bank’s specific NLP efforts, it suggests that the Bank is actively exploring and leveraging technology for communication and analysis purposes.
https://www.nbb.be/doc/ts/publications/nbbreport/2022/fr/t2/rapport2022_t2.pdf