Belgium has weathered the global crisis relatively well, with a smaller rise in unemployment than the OECD average and an economic recovery that is stronger than in the euro area. At the same time, inflation has accelerated from one of the lowest to one of the highest in the euro area (it stood at around 3½ per cent in early 2011), reflecting a relatively fast and strong pass-through of energy prices. This may create a risk to the recovery as persistent inflation pressures, arising from the automatic indexation of wages (as well as transfers and a number of service prices) and weak competition in energy markets may eventually hurt Belgian cost competitiveness.