In 2025, bankruptcies have reached a level unseen in more than ten years. In Brussels, pressure on businesses is intensifying. In response, Beci’s CEd Relance offers support to analyse situations, anticipate risks and, where possible, prepare a turnaround.
In 2025, 11,665 companies were declared bankrupt in Belgium, according to Statbel. This is the highest level recorded since 2013. After years marked by successive crises (health, energy and inflation), the trend has not subsided. In Brussels, the impact is particularly acute: 2,184 bankruptcies were registered, representing a 13.6% increase compared to 2024. For the capital, “this makes 2025 the highest figure of the past six years,” the study notes.
Behind these statistics are business leaders under pressure, weakened financial balances and decisions postponed due to a lack of visibility. In many cases, activity is still ongoing, but margins are shrinking, cash flow is tightening and uncertainty is complicating decision-making. This gradual and often silent deterioration is precisely what makes these situations so difficult to manage.
A growing fragility within Brussels’ economic fabric
The rise in bankruptcies is not merely a cyclical accident. It reflects a gradual weakening of the entrepreneurial fabric, particularly among micro and small and medium-sized enterprises, which are strongly represented in Brussels. Rising costs, wage indexation, tighter access to credit and an unstable economic climate create a demanding, sometimes exhausting, environment.
Many companies nevertheless remain fundamentally viable. Yet a few imbalances (late payments, poorly calibrated cost structures, lack of anticipation…) can be enough to tip the balance. Often, warning signs appear well before a breaking point.
The challenge is not so much identifying these signals as knowing how to respond to them. Too often, business leaders move forward alone, convinced they simply need to “hold on a little longer” and wait for conditions to improve. But as time passes, room for manoeuvre narrows. It is precisely in this in-between phase that support becomes crucial.
CEd Relance: first-line support
At Beci, the Centre for Companies in Difficulty (CEd Relance) supports businesses facing economic, financial or organisational challenges. The process begins with a confidential initial discussion. The aim is not to provide a late-stage diagnosis, but to clarify the available options: understanding the origins of the difficulties, assessing their scope and distinguishing structural issues from those that can still be corrected. Based on this analysis, companies are guided towards the most appropriate solutions, depending on their context and level of vulnerability.
For many business leaders, this first step also helps break isolation: putting words to difficulties, structuring reflection and regaining a degree of control over the timing of decisions.
Better to prevent than to endure
Depending on the situation, CEd Relance can mobilise different forms of support: cash-flow analysis, cost-structure review, managerial guidance or referrals to external experts, notably in legal or accounting matters. Where relevant, legal instruments such as the Judicial Reorganisation Procedure may also be considered, provided they are activated early enough.
However, most of the work takes place upstream: identifying weak signals, asking the right questions and acting before room for manoeuvre disappears. Preventing rather than enduring, adjusting rather than merely observing, this is often where the difference lies, especially in a context where bankruptcies have reached a worrying level.
In Brussels, CEd Relance operates within this logic: supporting companies while there is still time to adjust their trajectory and, where possible, prepare for a sustainable recovery. Each week, Beci provides tools and solutions for companies facing difficulties and offers collective or individual appointments to carry out a business diagnosis. More information:
Need to talk?
Are you experiencing difficulties with your business? Acting early can make a difference.
- By phone, Monday to Friday, 7am–10pm: +32 2 533 40 90
- By email: ced@beci.be
Questions?
Contact Eric Vanden Bemden, Coordinator of CEd Relance at Beci: evb@beci.be