The Belgian 10-year rate was above 3% all day Wednesday, for the first time in more than a decade.
A rise in rates is not good news for the Belgian State, which has to borrow on the markets to finance and refinance its debt. Nor does it help people who wish to take out mortgage loans, since mortgage rates are correlated to those of the State's linear bonds.
The situation is not unique to Belgium. Interest rates in all European countries are on the rise against a backdrop of monetary tightening by the European Central Bank in the face of galloping inflation. The same is true in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Belgian long rate had already approached 2.5% in July. Its lowest level, on the other hand, was in November 2020, when it dropped to -0.440%.
The German bund, a benchmark in Europe, was also up on Wednesday, at 2.396%.
