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Netherlands brings deficit back under EU limit

31 March 2014, 17:20 CET
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(THE HAGUE) - The Netherlands brought its public deficit back under the EU's 3.0 percent limit in 2013 for the first time in five years, data showed Monday.

The government managed to push the spending gap down to 2.5 percent of GDP, from 4.1 percent in 2012, Statistics Netherlands said.

"The substantial fall in the deficit amount was largely caused by a rise in income: government revenues rose by 7.0 billion euros to 285 billion euros," it said in a statement.

Overall, the deficit was reduced by 9.0 billion euros.

The deficit figure could be revised upwards depending on how it accounts for the nationalisation of SNS REAAL Bank, although the statistics agency officials said it would not push the country above the 3.0 percent threshold in any case.

The Netherlands managed to reduce the deficit despite the economy being in recession for most of the year. It snapped eight consecutive quarters of contraction with 0.8 percent growth at the end of 2013.

The public debt however rose by 2.2 percentage points to 73.5 percent of GDP, further above the EU limit of 60 percent.


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