By Natalia Drozdiak

BRUSSELS--The March terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital cost the country 0.1% of gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year, the governor of Belgium's central bank told broadcaster VRT News on Saturday.

"We estimate that we lost 0.1% of growth due to the attacks," said Jan Smets, head of the National Bank of Belgium. "This not insignificant and very unfortunate."

Belgium's economy grew 0.2% on a quarterly basis in the first three months of 2016, the country's central bank said earlier this week in its preliminary flash estimate. On an annual basis, the economy expanded 1.5% in the first quarter, it said.

Suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Brussels Airport and a city subway station on March 22, killing 32 and injuring scores more.

Mr. Smets said he expected the negative impact of those attacks to carry over into the second quarter.

The attacks in Brussels have had a bigger impact on Belgium's economy compared with other European countries that have also been hit by terrorist attacks, Mr. Smets said, because the airport is an important hub for the country's economy.

Belgium's economy also suffered in the final quarter of last year after the government in late November deployed troops, shut the capital's subway system and urged stores to close after officials invoked the maximum terror alert in Brussels, citing threats of an imminent attack similar to those in Paris on Nov. 13.

The terror lockdown cost Belgium 0.1% of GDP in the fourth quarter, according to Pieter Timmermans, chief executive of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises, the country's leading business association.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 30, 2016 09:17 ET (13:17 GMT)