Tim Hermans

National Bank of Belgium, formerly known as Banque Nationale de Belgique SA, is a Belgium-based bank. It has been Belgium's central bank since 1850. It performs tasks in the general interest at both national and international level. The Bank's activities consist of the issuing of bank notes and the conducting of monetary policy. It supplies bank notes printed at the Royal Mint to private banks and exchanges old or damaged notes and coins. It is responsible for setting interest rates to influence prices and control inflation in line with standards dictated by the Euro system, which conducts the monetary policy for the Euro area. The Bank's other activities include managing the inter-banking payment system for private banks, issuing State loans, acting for the Belgian State on the stock exchange, compiling statistics and supplying economic information.