Economy in Netherlands

After years of sluggish growth and high unemployment in the eighties when 'Dutch Disease' was a name for this kind of economic malaise, the nineties have seen a new sort of economic miracle in the Netherlands, locally known as the Poldermodel. Government, Unions and Employers have gotten together and lowered wages, reduced taxes and so increased growth. Unemployment fell to levels not seen since the sixties and growth kept over 3% for a couple of years.

GDP: purchasing power parity—$343.9 billion (1997 est.)

GDP—real growth rate: 3.25% (1997)

GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$22 000 (1997 est.)

GDP—composition by sector:

agriculture: 4%

industry: 18%

services: 78% (1996)

Inflation rate—consumer price index: 2% (1997)

Labor force:

total: 6.6 million (1997)

by occupation: services 75% manufacturing and construction 23% agriculture 2% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 6.9% (1997)

Budget:

revenues: $103.4 billion

expenditures: $112.5 billion including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 draft)

Industries: agroindustries metal and engineering products electrical machinery and equipment chemicals petroleum fishing construction microelectronics

Industrial production growth rate: 3.75% (1997)

Electricity—capacity: 20.09 million kW (1996 est.)

Electricity—production: 82 billion kWh (1996 est.)

Electricity—consumption per capita: 4 968 kWh (1996 est.)

Agriculture—products: grains potatoes sugar beets fruits vegetables; livestock

Exports:

total value: $203.1 billion (f.o.b. 1997)

commodities: manufactures and machinery chemicals; processed food and tobacco agricultural products

partners: EU 80% (Germany 29% Belgium-Luxembourg 13% UK 10%) Central and Eastern Europe 4% US 3% (1996)

Imports:

total value: $1.791 trillion (c.i.f. 1997)

commodities: raw materials and semifinished products consumer goods transportation equipment crude oil food products

partners: EU 64% (Germany 22% Belgium-Luxembourg 11% UK 10%) Central and Eastern Europe 4% US 8% (1996)

Debt—external: $0

Economic aid:

donor: ODA $2.9 billion (1997)

Currency: 1 Euro = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Netherlands guilders gulden or florins (ƒ) per US$1—2.0462 (January 1998) 1.9513 (1997) 1.6859 (1996) 1.6057 (1995) 1.8200 (1994) 1.8573 (1993)

Fiscal year: calendar year