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Netherlands reports budget surplus

Xinhua, February 24, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Dutch Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday that the Dutch government can write down a 200-million-euro (211.7 million U.S. dollars) budget surplus in 2016, the first budget surplus in nearly ten years.

In a note to the Parliament, Dutch financial minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the total tax and premium revenue of last year were 3.1 billion euros higher than expected while expenses were 0.2 billion euros lower, which was the main reason of the surplus.

Dijsselbloem added that these are only preliminary figures. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) will present further figures in March.

In the Autumn calculations, the Dutch government still expected a budget deficit of 3.1 billion euros.

"The Netherlands is not alone when it comes to economic growth. All European countries are doing better than before. The European Commission said last week that it expects the Netherlands would record a small surplus for this year and next year," commented Dutch television NOS.

The Dutch economy grew by 2.1 percent in 2016, the strongest growth since 2008, according to CBS. In the fourth quarter of 2016 the country also experienced the biggest growth of employment in five years. Endit