This Selected Issues paper highlights that over the past decade, the Netherlands has undergone a remarkable fiscal adjustment, with the deficit, the tax burden, and the expenditure-to-GDP ratio falling significantly. The switch from a deficit-target-based to an expenditure-target-based fiscal...

Although the advent of the single currency has generated many advantages for the smaller economies of the euro area, it has raised the possibility that both the amplitude and the duration of cycles in these countries will prove greater than in the past. In the absence of country-specific...

The strong output growth and labor market performance of recent years reflect both supply-side and demand-side factors. Fiscal restraint has a crucial role to play in containing the risk of further overheating, as well as in a medium-term perspective. Steady gains have been made in labor...

The past decade has witnessed a progressive weakening of the Antillean economy, and prospects for a recovery depend on reinvigorating and sustaining adjustment. There is a need for more vigorous reforms, well coordinated across governments and supported by building social consensus. Fiscal...

Overall competitiveness of the Dutch economy seems adequate, but domestically produced exports have lost market share recently. Over the past three decades, globalization has greatly influenced economies as countries have become more integrated. Empirical studies on business cycles...

Strong macroeconomic foundations have so far largely shielded the Netherlands from recent financial turbulence. Despite a tightening labor market, inflation remains subdued. Employment has grown 11⁄4–11⁄2 percent in 2007, on par with the rest of the Euro area. The external current account...

Dutch macroeconomic statistics are generally in accordance with internationally accepted standards and guidelines on concepts and definitions, scope, classification and sectorization, and basis for recording. They are also available with periodicity and timeliness that always meet, and sometimes...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation for the Netherlands Antilles’ reports that economic growth has been feeble so far in this decade, in the midst of economic policy drift. Growth has been constrained by still inflexible labor markets, widespread state ownership and interference in commercial...

This Selected Issues paper for the Kingdom of the Netherlands—Netherlands underlies recent fiscal developments. Fiscal deterioration during economic slowdowns is not unusual and can be justified on economic grounds. Although the real spending ceilings were largely adhered to, procyclical...

The report on the Netherlands on the Observance of Standards and Codes discusses the fiscal transparency module and the Aide-Mémoire regarding the fiscal framework. The roles and responsibilities of and within government are, in general, clearly defined and, in many areas, the Netherlands sets...